Nick Danforth
Southern Asia
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Articles by Nick Danforth
No one has a plan for American decline
Many in the neoconservative and traditionally conservative wings of the Republican Party believe that with the renewed application of its still considerable military and political power, America can remain the world’s dominant power for the foreseeable future. Republican restrainers, in turn, believe that if America forsakes dominance and conserves its power, global disorder can be kept at bay and the American people will be better for it.
No One Has a Plan for American Decline
America’s geopolitical power is crumbling, and that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Hegemons, after all, rise and fall. Yet nobody in U.S. politics or punditry seems to actually want to talk about the consequences, especially for the American people. When it comes to decline, they either believe it won’t happen or won’t matter—in other words, that America can’t decline or that Americans will be just fine if it does.
Gin and Tonic's Myths Show How to Concoct Tradition
Like gin and tonic, myth and history make for a classic cocktail. Contrary to many accounts, there’s no evidence that the famous drink was actually invented by British officers in India to make their malaria medicine more palatable. That said, it did become popular there, and quinine, an ingredient in tonic water, does help treat malaria.
Gin and Tonic's Myths Show How to Concoct Tradition
Like gin and tonic, myth and history make for a classic cocktail. Contrary to many accounts, there’s no evidence that the famous drink was actually invented by British officers in India to make their malaria medicine more palatable. That said, it did become popular there, and quinine, an ingredient in tonic water, does help treat malaria. Like gin and tonic, myth and history make for a classic cocktail.
Nick Danforth to Appear on Beyond Success TV
FL, UNITED STATES, September 7, 2026 / EINPresswire.com/ -- Nick Danforth, a businessman and entrepreneur specializing in sales and brand building, is set to appear on Beyond Success TV, where he will share insights on overcoming obstacles, building brands, and maintaining determination through difficult circumstances.
How to Spin an Empire
Welcome to FP Free Week. To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, our entire site is completely unlocked this week only. Enjoy the article. Amid losing a war with Iran, the Trump administration has intensified military, economic, and legal pressure against Cuba in recent months, creating fears of a new military intervention in the Caribbean. If Trump continues down this path, he will bring Washington’s long imperial tradition in Latin America back to the very place it began in 1898.
Trump Tests the Limits of Farcepolitik
Argument An expert’s point of view on a current event. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shows an artist's rendering of US President Donald Trump's planned Triumphal Arch during a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 15. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shows an artist's rendering of U.S. President Donald Trump's planned "Triumphal Arch" during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on April 15.
Protest dynamics; Turkey-EU; Greece's Middle Eastern identity
Hi folks, Nick and I did another one of our biweekly live sessions on Friday. We really talked about three things: May 1 and protest dynamics in Turkey and the U.S. Turkey-EU relations, and what could have been How Greece is rediscovering its Middle Eastern identity, via the new book The New Byzantines: The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East, by Sea…
What if the Ottomans Survived?
Middle East and North Africa Following its defeat in World War I, the Ottoman Empire came to an end on Nov. 1, 1922. After six centuries of splendor, stretching from the Persian Gulf to the gates of Vienna, the once-great sultanate stumbled spent into the 20th century and finally collapsed. But what if it hadn’t? Following its defeat in World War I, the Ottoman Empire came to an end on Nov. 1, 1922.
China's Gold Mining in Afghanistan Is Endangered by Militants, Local Disputes
Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, China has dominated Afghanistan’s mining industry. But the mines, primarily located along both sides of the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border, are now turning into a lethal minefield. Chinese nationals have been increasingly targeted by militants, with the most recent incidents resulting in the death of five Chinese miners and workers in Tajikistan in cross-border attacks from northern Afghanistan.
Who Killed the Liberal International Order?
Foreign Policy Illustration The liberal international order is dead—again. If reports from the past month are to be believed, it was killed off by U.S. President Donald Trump, in Greenland, with his unprovoked threats against a NATO ally. But the order has been pronounced dead before. Who was the actual murderer? Was it George W. Bush, in Iraq, with the nuclear lies? Was it Barack Obama, in Syria, with the unenforced red line?
Did Trump Really Kill the Liberal International Order?
U.S. Foreign Policy Foreign & Public Diplomacy Ukraine The liberal international order is dead—again. If reports from the past month are to be believed, it was killed off by U.S. President Donald Trump, in Greenland, with his unprovoked threats against a NATO ally. The liberal international order is dead—again. If reports from the past month are to be believed, it was killed off by U.S. President Donald Trump, in Greenland, with his unprovoked threats against a NATO ally.
Pope Francis, Dick Cheney, and More
Politics Geopolitics United States South America Europe Middle East and North Africa Africa From Pope Francis to former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, this year saw the deaths of some significant figures in world affairs. Foreign Policy considered their lives and legacies with in-depth analysis and commentary. Below are five notable obituaries from 2025. From Pope Francis to former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, this year saw the deaths of some significant figures in world affairs.
Looking Back at Trump’s America-First Agenda in 2025
U.S. Foreign Policy United States Nearly a year into U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, we are still struggling to figure out how to write about him—and his foreign policy. Whether by posting artificial intelligence-generated videos of imagined war crimes in Gaza or sharing grainy black-and-white videos of alleged war crimes in the Caribbean, Trump continues to defy our expectations in increasingly expected ways.
Talking Istanbul with Hannah Lucinda Smith
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -30:39 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Hi folks, We’ve got something a little different for you this week on the pod. Nick was going to be in Istanbul for a bit, so we thought we’d record something about the city we all know and love. We especially wanted to discuss how Istanbul has been changing in the last couple of decades.
Erdogan’s Geopolitical Aggression Is Less Unique in a World With Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu
Geopolitics Military Russia Middle East and North Africa Ukraine Since January, many observers have warned that U.S. President Donald Trump is traveling down the same autocratic path pioneered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Just last week, Trump threatened to replace the elected mayor of Washington, D.C., echoing a favorite tactic of the Erdogan government.
Anxiety Can Be as Dangerous to Empires as Complacency
In a 1912 story, British satirist H.H. Munro—better known by his pen name, Saki—imagines a “small, obtrusive, self-important” Austrian diplomat sitting under a decaying double-headed eagle at his favorite café in Vienna. He orders coffee and slowly confronts the fact that the world, as he knows and loves it, is crumbling.
How to Sell a Clash of Civilizations
Since its publication in 1996, Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order has been globally influential, cited by leaders from Washington to Beijing. Huntington’s thesis is that geopolitical conflicts will increasingly take place between what he defines as the world’s major civilizations, a mixture of cultural, religious, and racial categories. As critics have noted, this is nonsense.
6/28/25 National Security News and Commentary
Quotes of the Day: “Chinese history textbooks state that the Korean War began when "the United States assembled a United Nations army of 15 countries and defiantly marched across the border and invaded North Korea, spreading the flames of war to our Yalu river." Malcolm Moore, “China rewrites history of Korean War”, The Telegraph, (25 Jun 2010).
The Edge of the Map
National security. For insiders. By insiders. Editor’s Note: Nick Danforth’s journey as author of this column is drawing to a close. Keep an eye out for his forthcoming book, tentatively titled Fifty Maps That Don’t Explain the World! Meanwhile, we will continue our cartographic explorations, with more on maps coming soon from War on the Rocks. We’ve finally come to the edge of the map, and I, for one, am stumbling off it.
The PKK's dissolves itself
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -25:41 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Hi folks, On the most recent episode of the podcast, we had the journalist Amberin Zaman on to talk about the Kurdish peace process. Amberin of course, is a veteran of this 40-year conflict.
Whale Charts of the World
In 1975, the New York Times reported on a growing number of transmission problems in Pontiacs, Buicks, Cadillacs, and several other General Motors cars. The source of the trouble was a recent law against hunting whales, whose oil had been used in G.M.’s automatic transmission fluid.
Mid-Afternoon Map: Maps of Matrimony
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** Maps, marriage, and painfully drawn-out metaphors have existed since the beginning of time.
Turkey-Israel relations
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -40:44 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Hi folks, We’re back with another episode of the pod. This time we talked about the way Turkey-Israel relations are shaping up in the wake of Assad’s fall. Our guest is , who is a visiting fellow with GMF South, a policy fellow at the Mitvim Institute, and director of undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame’s academic center in Jerusalem.
Trouble in the Technate
National security. For insiders. By insiders. Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** As obscure mid-century ideological movements with a flair for graphic design go, Technocracy is having its moment.
We Study Repression in Turkey. Now We See It Here. Original
On Tuesday evening, Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish Fulbright scholar researching children’s digital-media consumption at Tufts University, was taken into ICE custody. Ozturk was handcuffed and forced into a vehicle while on her way to dinner after fasting for Ramadan. In a video, she asks, “Can I call the police?” only to be told, “We are the police.” Why was Rumeysa Ozturk seized like this?
Trump's Canadian Border Claims Echo Middle East Conflicts
Only a decade ago, U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments on Canada would have read as a deliberate parody of bad Middle East punditry. In his demands for the country’s annexation, Trump has repeatedly called Canada’s border with the United States an “artificial line.” He’s gone on to say “somebody did it a long time ago” and this border “makes no sense.” Swap in, say, Iraq and Syria, and this quote could come from countless conversations about Middle Eastern politics and conflicts.
Hell’s Bells, Can We Stop Talking About Annexing Canada?!
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** In fairness to Donald Trump, he’s not the first person who’s contested the U.S.-Canadian border in the last two centuries.
Mid-Afternoon Map: A Ride to Khiva
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** Col. Frederick Gustavus Burnaby never received the fame or geographic moniker enjoyed by men such as Lawrence of Arabia or Chinese Gordon.
The Cartography of Grievance
Visiting foreign countries, it’s always striking to discover where their maps differ from the rest of the world’s. China’s nine-dash line, laying claim to the entirety of the South China Sea, is one notorious case. The Philippines, in turn, have contested the name of the sea itself, labeling parts of it as the West Philippine Sea since 2012. Everybody has their favorite examples of contested territories, at land or sea.
The Cartography of Grievance
Geopolitics United States Visiting foreign countries, it's always striking to discover where their maps differ from the rest of the world’s. China’s nine-dash line, laying claim to the entirety of the South China Sea, is one notorious case. The Philippines, in turn, have contested the name of the sea itself, labeling parts of it as the West Philippine Sea since 2012. Everybody has their favorite examples of contested territories, at land or sea.
Mid-Afternoon Map: The New Ukraine-Palestine Matrix
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** Windows in Washington, D.C. are like Twitter bios. You can find almost any combination of flags on display if you look hard enough.
Greenland's Mercator Projection Is Exaggerated but Don't Blame Maps for Trump Threats
Geopolitics Military United States With his renewed threats to annex Greenland, President Donald Trump has not only inspired alarm and despair over the future of American foreign policy, he has also revived a niche cartographic debate about the Mercator projection. Discussing his interest in acquiring the Arctic territory, Trump previously explained: “I love maps. And I always said, ‘Look at the size of this.
The Continental Divide
National security. For insiders. By insiders. Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** The United States has always been plagued by regional rivalries. In the mid-19th century, they led to a violent civil war.
Down the Rabbit Hole to Hollow Earth
Flat-earthers tend to get all the attention these days, and I don’t begrudge them their fame. But I regret that it comes at the expense of the hollow earth crowd, whose driving geologic theory is at once far more plausible and far more insane. For those who did not spend the last several hours following the same internet rabbit hole I did all the way down into the center of the earth, the basic tenets of the hollow earth theory are: The Earth is hollow.
In Brief: A New Syrian Government’s Regional Relationships
Syria’s new leaders are in desperate need of partners who can provide fiscal, economic, and diplomatic support. Since overthrowing the Assad regime, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s leader, Ahmed al Sharaa, has actively reached out to multiple governments. Recently, new Foreign Minister Asaad al Shaibani visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Turkey. Qatar and Turkey have reopened embassies in Damascus.
Mapping the Future
National security. For insiders. By insiders. Over the past couple weeks, everyone in Washington and the world has published their geopolitical forecast for 2025. The beauty of these predictions is that you can simultaneously make fun of the vague ones for being vague and the clear ones for being wrong. I really do admire the humility and wisdom of pundits who try to play it safe.
Q&A with Lucien Boucher
National security. For insiders. By insiders. Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible.
Apes and Maps in Rome
National security. For insiders. By insiders. Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** The recent release of “Gladiator II” was accompanied by a deluge of articles finding fault with its historical accuracy.
Mid-Afternoon Map: Time Magazine's Map of the Year
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** Over the past year, publications like the New York Times have faced an unrelenting stream of criticism for their Middle East coverage.
Mid-Afternoon Map: The Maps Diverge
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** The archives are littered with far too many maps showing just how wrong sweeping predictions about the future can be.
Mid-Afternoon Map: Hog Mapper to the World
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible.
Mid-Afternoon Map: The Rise and Fall of the Mediterranean Powers
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible.
Mid-Afternoon Map: In Search of the Enigmatic Spaniard
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible.
Mid-Afternoon Map: Nostalgia for the Near East
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** There used to be a Near East. It stretched from the Balkans across Anatolia, down through the Levant and possibly into Egypt.
Mid-Afternoon Map: Hubris Over Ice
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** Arctic balloon tragedies are a timeless subject, but they seem particularly compelling in the late summer Washington heat.
Mid-Afternoon Map: Playing 3D Backgammon with Putin
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** Anti-Western ideology and geopolitical necessity may be the main factors uniting the Russian and Iranian regimes.
Mid-Afternoon Map: In Search of the Civilizational State
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** For the last century or two, the nation-state has been the global gold standard as far as stateliness was concerned.
Mid-Afternoon Map: Crownfall
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** Having devoted our July 4 newsletter to maps of America, I had to wait till today for my second favorite Independence Day topic: an extended rant about monarchy.
Mid-Afternoon Map: Four Maps for the Fourth
Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** Miguel Covarrubias, United States of America, 1942 The 1940s were, without a doubt, America’s golden age of patriotic pictorial maps.
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