The Franco-German relationship has been declared dead many times before and survived, @RikeFranke writes. But this time, both countries face rising political extremes at home, and cash-strapped France cannot match Germany’s defense spending. wpr.pub/4yz0d0q

It is easy to assume Syria’s new government has put justice for Assad-era crimes at the heart of its reconstruction. But much of its focus on prosecuting former regime officials seems symbolic and, at times, almost performative, Francisco Serrano writes. wpr.pub/3VTkSyI

Guinea-Bissau’s 2025 coup was widely seen as a sham staged by then-President Umaro Sissoco Embaló to cancel an election he had lost. Instead, the junta has turned on him, barring his return from exile and postponing new elections indefinitely. wpr.pub/4z2Carz

U.S. voters are likely to punish, not reward, President Donald Trump’s increasingly open alignment with Russia in the Nov. 3 midterms—all the more so amid reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered business deals to Trump’s allies, @FridaGhitis writes. wpr.pub/486DqhB

France and Germany’s joint tank and fighter jet programs have been scaled back, and a German search engine just dropped France’s leading AI lab. The Franco-German partnership’s pageantry remains intact even as its substance thins out. wpr.pub/4yz0d0q

In post-Assad Syria, former security chiefs face death sentences while regime-linked tycoons settle with fines and stay in business, and alleged abuses by the new government’s own forces draw far less scrutiny. That uneven justice could undermine the country’s recovery. wpr.pub/3VTkSyI

The Trump administration has replaced U.S. democracy promotion with funding for right-wing populist causes abroad. But by tying those movements so visibly to the U.S. state, is Washington undermining their appeal to their own audiences? wpr.pub/4iw1Hnf

Norms are often most visible in how people react when they’re violated. The outcry over Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to livestream a U.S. military execution gave troops clear evidence of what the public sees as acceptable, @charlicarpenter writes. wpr.pub/4yB891h

Azerbaijan’s 2023 offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh ended both the West’s push for a negotiated peace and Russia’s “frozen conflict,” tilting the South Caucasus toward illiberal regional powers, Laurence Broers argues. Revisited for WPR’s 20th anniversary: wpr.pub/4ys983B

Paris and Berlin still agree on European strategic autonomy in principle. But when it meets concrete trade-offs on cost, performance and national industry, German actors increasingly go their own way, @RikeFranke writes. wpr.pub/4yz0d0q

Syria is convicting Assad-era officials of war crimes and crimes against humanity in a court created by decree, with no transitional justice law. It seems built for speed over a full accounting, Francisco Serrano writes. wpr.pub/3VTkSyI

MAGA treats durable power as a matter of embedding ideas in a society’s educational institutions, intellectual networks and media. Under Trump, the U.S. is now exporting that approach to promote right-wing populism abroad. wpr.pub/4iw1Hnf

Lawmakers from both parties, 8 in 10 Americans, the U.N., faith leaders, retired generals and troops all objected to livestreaming the Fort Hood shooter’s execution, and Trump backed down. It shows how international norms constrain even the most powerful states. wpr.pub/4yB891h

The exodus of more than 100,000 Karabakh Armenians after Azerbaijan’s 2023 offensive set reconciliation back by at least a generation and set the stage for a new cycle of disputed claims, Laurence Broers writes in a piece we’re highlighting for WPR’s 20th anniversary. wpr.pub/4ys983B

The experiences of Vietnam, Indonesia, Chile, Pakistan and Honduras suggest countries should judge ties with Beijing not by the access they gain to China’s market, but by whether those ties strengthen their own productive capacity, Juan Fernando Herrera Ramos writes. wpr.pub/3WhXHy2

About 70 percent of Ecuador’s power comes from water, and dry conditions have pushed reservoirs to critically low levels weeks before Nov. 29 local elections—and voters may blame President Daniel Noboa for failing to keep the lights on as promised. wpr.pub/47oVN19