Carol J Williams

Carol J. Williams is a retired foreign correspondent with 30 years' reporting abroad for the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press. She has reported from more than 80 countries, with a focus on USSR/Russia and Eastern Europe.

Getting Aid to Afghanistan — A Taliban Stalemate

The diplomatic scramble to rescue the Afghan people from total economic collapse and widespread hunger rests on a theory that Western democracies can compel a more moderate Taliban rule through the provision of aid and measured collaboration with the regime when necessary. 

Nuclear Sub Deal Pushes US Towards a New Cold War with China

The Center for Nonproliferation Studies calls the U.S. and British commitment to provide Canberra what it needs to build a nuclear submarine fleet “an unprecedented transfer of strategic capability to another country” and one “sure to irk China and accelerate the spiral toward a Cold War-style standoff.”

German Election: Deep Divisions in Deciding Who Will Replace Angela Merkel

The latest aggregate of Germany’s multitudinous polls scatters voter support so widely among the six parties in contention that the leader whose party wins the most seats in the Bundestag will have to woo two others into a three-party governing coalition.

Apres Afghanistan: Where Corrupt Deposed Leaders Flee

The popularity of Persian Gulf refuge for discredited leaders reflects the shift in global turmoil to the Middle East and Asia from previous decades’ fighting and coup-waging that toppled Latin American strongmen and Eurasian Communist dictators.

Afghanistan Airport Attack is A Preview of a Civil War to Come

The attacks claimed by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) at an airport gate thronged by those desperate to flee the Taliban demonstrated that the extremist force claiming to be in power has no control over rival militant factions or even many in its own ranks.

Summer Floods and Scandals Scramble Germany’s Election to Succeed Merkel

As the Sept. 26 federal election approaches that will determine who succeeds Germany’s first female leader, there is no obvious outcome.

France Compels Vaccines and Vaccination Rates Soar

French president Emmanuel Macron’s edict spurred 160,000 protesters to take to the streets accusing him of dictatorial tactics. It also drove nearly 4 million others to book vaccinations.

Delusional Exceptionalism: How the US Lost Its Global Pre-Eminence

Two insightful new books on America’s diminished role in the world chronicle the demise of U.S. authority against the chaotic backdrop of 2020.

A Predictable End to America’s Endless War

What has kept U.S. forces in the unreformable country is a circular argument about how to secure the gains made over 20 years, most notably the rights of women and girls in education and the economy.

Joe Biden’s Excellent Week: America Back on the World Stage

The cumulative dispute resolutions and restoration of Europeans’ confidence in their U.S. allies likely constituted Biden’s most consequential week since taking office five months ago.

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