David R. Sands

Eight more years — lawmakers approve bill allowing Putin two more terms as president

Russian voters may have President Vladimir Putin to kick around for eight more years after lawmakers Wednesday made progress on a bill that would allow Mr. Putin to run for two more presidential terms.

March 24, 2021

Celebrating chess great Vasily Smyslov at 100

The competition isn't particularly stiff, but Vasily Smyslov may have been the most normal person ever to capture the world championship crown in chess.

March 23, 2021

Recalled Russian envoy arrives in Moscow for consultations

Russia's ambassador to Washington arrived Sunday in Moscow after the Kremlin expressed fury at President Biden's characterization of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "killer."

March 21, 2021

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin makes surprise trip to Afghanistan

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made a surprise trip to Afghanistan Sunday, as the Biden administration faces a looming decision on whether to withdraw the last U.S. troops from what is already America's longest war.

March 21, 2021

Chinese put positive spin on Alaska summit with U.S.

It featured a rancorous, barb-filled first act, but the two-day summit of top U.S. and Chinese officials played to surprisingly positive reviews in China's state-controlled press Saturday.

March 20, 2021

At the chessboard, it’s Erin go blah

There are so many things the Irish are good at: lyric poetry, dark beer, dancing with their arms epoxied to their sides. Chess, unfortunately, has never been one of them.

March 16, 2021

G-7 ministers say China pushing to kill democracy in Hong Kong

The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrial democracies Friday sharply criticized China's recent moves sharply restricting democratic rule in Hong Kong, saying a new law approved this week by the rubber-stamp National People's Congress betrays promises Beijing made to preserve the former British colony's political freedoms.

March 12, 2021

Canadians held by Chinese may soon get court date

Two prominent Canadians long detained in China on charges widely believed to be a retaliation for the prosecution of a leading Chinese tech executive by Ottawa may finally be getting a court date, according to a report in the state-controlled Global Times in China.

March 11, 2021

Blinken, Sullivan plan first meeting with Chinese counterparts

President Biden's top diplomat and top security adviser will hold their first face-to-face meeting with their Chinese counterparts next week in Alaska, the State Department announced Wednesday.

March 10, 2021

Your move: The wandering ways of the chess master

For such a sedentary game, chess is played by some pretty peripatetic people.

March 9, 2021

House Armed Services chairman endorses revising AUMF, president’s war-making mandate

The Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is endorsing a move in Congress to update the nearly two-decade-old mandates allowing presidents to take military action.

March 9, 2021

China passes U.S. as world leader in billionaires

China, guided in theory by the ruling Communist Party's Marxist-Leninist ideals, has achieved an unlikely milestone -- surpassing the United States as the country with the largest population of billionaires.

March 3, 2021

Armenian superstar Levon Aronian to play for U.S. chess

It's not quite Tom Brady signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- but it's pretty close. Armenian superstar GM Levon Aronian, who has anchored his small nation to three Olympiad team gold medals, announced last week he was moving to St. Louis and will soon play under the American flag.

March 2, 2021

U.S. sanctions Houthi military leaders after dropping terror tag

The Biden administration on Tuesday sanctioned two senior leaders of Yemen's Houthi rebel army, saying the Iran-backed force has contributed to the displacing of millions of civilians and creating one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises.

March 2, 2021

Saudis angrily reject critical U.S. report on Khashoggi killing

Saudi Arabia is bluntly rejecting a declassified U.S. intelligence report released Friday by the Biden administration implicating Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, in the gruesome October 2018 killing of U.S.-based Saudi dissident journalist Ahmad Khashoggi.

February 26, 2021

U.S. intelligence blames Saudi crown prince for Khashoggi murder

De facto Saudi Arabian leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Sultan gave the green light for the mission to capture or kill American-based Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded, in a case that threatens to strain even further relations between Riyadh and the Biden administration.

February 26, 2021

Russia, ally of Syria, fumes at U.S. airstrike against militia group

Russia, a key military ally of the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, on Friday sharply condemned the U.S. airstrike targeting an Iran-allied Iraqi militia group operating in Syria.

February 26, 2021

Ukraine minister Dmytro Kuleba sees short window for Biden administration to confront Russia

President Biden's early words in support of Ukraine in its clash with Russia have been strong, but he has only a short window of opportunity to back up those words with actions that will impress the Kremlin, Ukraine's top diplomat said Thursday.

February 25, 2021

Volodymyr Zelenskiy offers to play host to Joe Biden

An attempt to secure an Oval Office visit for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy landed Ukraine smack in the middle of President Trump's first impeachment drama in 2019, so Ukraine's top diplomat said Thursday the push is on to get President Biden to come to Kyiv instead.

February 25, 2021

An ambivalent tribute to an inimitable chess genius

For we proud members of the Cult of the Tiger, Alexey Bezgodov's eagerly awaited "Defend Like Petrosian" (NewInChess, 269 pp. $24.95) is a fascinating but frustrating survey of the life and works of the inimitable Tigran Petrosian, the ninth world champion and perhaps the most original player of the modern era.

February 23, 2021