Trump’s last days critical for Biden

In less than a month, the inauguration of the 46th president of the United States will take place. Joe Biden will take his oath and start his tenure as the new president. However, the events during the last week have demonstrated that this period may be the longest one month in recent U.S history.

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Trump s last days critical for Biden
The Biden doctrine US-Russian affairs

The Biden doctrine: US-Russian affairs

With the official announcement of Joe Biden’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, everybody has started to discuss what the new president's foreign policy will bring for the U.S.

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In recent years, the European Union has managed to overcome severe crises and inspire new candidates to full membership despite the unexpected Brexit decision. The union is still seen as a hub of peace and prosperity in spite of the gradual rise of extremist ideologies in the continent and European economies' declining role in global economic activity.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is forming his Cabinet, and there has been a flurry of analysis about the names he nominated for key positions. The candidates, their backgrounds and previous experiences demonstrate that Biden is planning to follow a different form of presidency in the next four years.

This issue of Insight Turkey focuses on underscoring both promises of internal reconstruction and challenges fueled by different external actors intervening in the Libyan crisis.

Deputy Trade Minister Gonca Yılmaz Batur said that Germany is Turkey's most important trading partner in Europe, adding that the two countries aim to reach a $50 billion trade volume in the long run.

From trade wars to trade agreement wars?

Trump not only escalated the disputes into a trade war but also extended the scope of these disputes to include some other countries, including Japan. Through bilateral talks, the dispute with Japan was de-escalated, but with China, the long and tedious negotiations did not lead to a resolution.

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From trade wars to trade agreement wars
Security sector reform can ensure peace in Libya

Security sector reform can ensure peace in Libya

The Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) hosted the International Conference on Libya earlier this week, where participants exchanged views on reforming that country’s security sector, among other issues.

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In his inauguration speech following the resignation of his predecessor President Richard Nixon, former U.S. President Gerald Ford said, "my fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over."

It is in the U.S.' and Turkey’s best interest for the Democrats to set aside “ideological” prejudice for a while.

The U.S. election is over. Contrary to expectations, there was no landslide in the elections. There was no blue wave and there was no overwhelming victory of one candidate over the other. The major losers of this election are again the pollsters. It turned out that the Democrats were right to have anxiety over the polls as they demonstrated a solid and consistent Democratic lead in major key battleground states. There will be a lot of evaluations and assessments of the election results. My initial observations include the following.

The 2020 U.S. presidential election will go down in history as a sign of the U.S. democracy's deepening crisis. The ongoing problems are not just about Donald Trump's unusual presidency or the popularity of Trumpism.

Provided that the incoming president will take over on Jan. 20, 2021, the transition period is expected to be painful if Trump loses the election. The elephant in the room is not unknown: Even if Trump were to lose, what he stands for (let’s call it Trumpism) remains influential among American voters.

On Tuesday, millions of Americans will go to the ballots to vote for the president that will occupy the White House for the next four years. As asserted several times in this column, it will be an election like no other, taking place during the deadliest pandemic for the U.S. after the Spanish Flu of 1918.

Michael Scott Doran of Hudson Institute and Kilic Bugra Kanat of Turkish group SETA discuss next week's elections in US

The second U.S. presidential debate took place on Thursday in Tennessee. The disastrous first presidential debate between the two candidates lowered the bar, with some calling for the cancellation of future debates and many analysts declaring it the lowest point in U.S. politics.

The 2020 election is going to be one of the most significant in recent history for the U.S. Earlier this column examined the several reasons why this is such a critical election year for America, including the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic crisis and deep divergences in the worldview of the two candidates.

After a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks, many observers and experts have started to talk about a possible second wave of the outbreak, and this should not come as a surprise.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected the standing and popularity of major economies around the world. None of the top three major economies handled the pandemic well. China, as the epicenter of the pandemic and its failure to inform the world about it; the EU, as the second epicenter of the pandemic and its failure to help member countries; and the United States, as the third epicenter of the outbreak and its failure to contain the crisis, all lost credibility.

There are only 25 days left to the most significant and consequential elections in recent U.S. history. Mail-in and early voting have already started across the country. According to the latest statistics, almost 7 million people have already cast their ballots, which signals that this could be the election with the highest turnout in U.S. electoral history. It seems that instead of suppressing voting, COVID-19, through mail-in and absentee ballots, may increase the voting in many states in the U.S.

The aftermath of Nov. 3, however, remains a mystery for U.S. politics. The current level of uncertainty is arguably unprecedented. As the Turkish saying goes: Live long enough and you'll see everything.