From news and politics to sport, culture and fashion, we preview the events likely to shape the year ahead
International affairs
Iran nuclear deal, 15 January
We should know by mid-January how serious Donald Trump is about seeking a confrontation with Iran over its nuclear programme. The US president refused in October to continue to certify the 2015 multilateral agreement under which Tehran accepted strict curbs on its activities in return for sanctions relief.
Trump said that either Congress or US allies should fix the “serious flaws” in the deal, or he would “terminate it. The Senate has since opted out of dealing with the matter, and Washington’s allies have insisted that the 2015 agreement cannot be renegotiated.
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Commentaries, Analyisis, And Editorials -- January 1, 2017
North Korea casts nuclear shadow over Asia's 2018 -- Justin McCurry in Tokyo, Benjamin Haas in Hong Kong and Michael Safi in Delhi , The Guardian
Bad to Worse: How Diplomatic Hopes With North Korea Plunged -- Matthew Pennington, RCD
North Korea: It's About America's Allies (or Should Be) -- Wallace C. Gregson, National Interest
When Gen. Douglas MacArthur Put the Hurt on North Korea -- James Warren, Daily Beast
Japan, a Pacifist in Name Only -- Phillip Orchard, Geopolitical Futures
Making China Great Again -- Evan Osnos, New Yorker
Its dreams of a caliphate are gone. Now Isis has a deadly new strategy -- Hassan Hassan, The Guardian
The GCC's arms race and the Iranian 'threat' -- Khalid Al-Jaber & Giorgio Cafiero, Al Jazeera
Will new tax spur economic reform in UAE, Saudi Arabia? -- Saba Aziz, Al Jazeera
The drive to recentralize Vietnam -- David Hutt, Asia Times
Thailand: will they stay or will they go? Thai history has not been kind to military leaders who overstay their welcome -- Shawn W. Crispin, Asia Times
6 European elections to watch this year -- Emma Anderson, Politico.eu
After Avoiding Impeachment, Can Peru’s Kuczynski Survive His Pardon of Fujimori? -- David Dudenhoefer, WPR
Looking ahead to 2018: Brazilian vote scheduled amid crisis -- John Holman, Al Jazeera
It's in America's National Interest to Stay in NAFTA -- Earl Anthony Wayne, National Interest
The Year American Hegemony Ended -- John R. Schindler