IT said it all about the predicament in which Manchester United find themselves that their 2-0 defeat to Burnley at Old Trafford on Wednesday night felt like a huge deal for the visitors but, in a very strange way, just more of the same for those home supporters who clogged the exits with ten minutes still to play.

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, open societies were triumphant and international co-operation became the dominant creed. Thirty years later, however, nationalism has turned out to be much more powerful and disruptive than internationalism, writes George Soros

At a moment when the prospect of a renewed border on this island stirs old ghosts, Germany — and all of Europe — will, in the coming days, mark the 30th anniversary of the collapse of one of the continent’s most toxic icons, the Berlin Wall.

Forty-five years after making my Ireland debut, 55 years after watching my country play for the first time, I’m struggling to think of a week when we produced back-to-back performances as poor as these.

While most non-proliferation and test-ban treaties remain, the 1987 intermediate range pact has collapsed and the 2015 Iran deal is on the brink, says Bennett Ramberg

Any hasty foreign-troop withdrawal from Afghanistan would lead to a fiasco similar to the Soviet retreat from the country in the 1980s and would result in chaos, says Amin Saikal

Europe experienced a truly miraculous few months 30 years ago. At a precipice, blood could have flowed. The floodgates of change opened instead, writes Carl Bildt

Ireland’s latest trip to Copenhagen marked your correspondent’s fifth visit to the engaging Danish capital which, a couple of thunderstorms aside, presented a much sunnier, summery face than I experienced on my first trip there.

What started as a trade war between the US and China is quickly escalating into a death match for global economic, technological, and military dominance, writes Nouriel Roubini.

After months of polling, speculation, and hand wringing over the European Parliament election this month, one might think that nothing else matters, writes Carl Bildt.

America will not get support for pitting itself against ‘non-Caucasians’, but will for protecting international order, says Minxin Pei.

The world must have the technical solutions to guarantee the credibility of countries’ promises if denuclearisation is to succeed, write Piet de Klerk and Robert Floyd.

Fifty years ago today Martin Luther King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

The rise of pro-Putin parties in the recent Italian elections has again underlined how American leverage has waned in comparison, writes John Lloyd.

Donald Trump’s spats with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un about the size of their nuclear buttons are reckless, while his desire to expand his nuclear arsenal is a departure from his predecessors and a contravention of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, says Jason Douglas

Russia’s Culture Ministry has banned a satirical film about Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s death from cinemas following criticism from communists and others that the British-French production made a mockery of Russian history.

Newly released CIA files show how spooked the Soviets were by Kenney’s assassination and the frightening spectre of nuclear war breaking out, writes Ryle Dwyer

In 1983, former Cork South West TD Jim O’Keeffe was involved in the discovery of a Russian spy ring in Dublin. His story now features in a new RTÉ documentary, writes Robert Mulhern

IT would, perhaps, be too optimistic to suppose that President Donald Trump has ever perused the famous treatise on war written by the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu.

US Vice President Mike Pence has said the future of Europe's Balkan nations is in the West, reaffirming Washington's commitment to the region as Russia works to assert its historical influence there.

CAPTAIN Boyle, Sean O’Casey’s character in his play Juno and the Paycock, was fond of proclaiming: “The whole worl’s in a terrible state o’ chassis.”

Should next Saturday’s Champions League final resolve itself into a head to head contest between Ronaldo and Gianluigi Buffon, the outcome might not only decide the game but also the winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or.

Russian president Vladimir Putin and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe have discussed joint economic projects on disputed islands which could pave the way for the countries to finally sign a peace treaty.

The EU needs to be rethought and move away from the ‘one size fits all’ to something more flexible, writes Richard Haass

There has been little else but talk about North Korea’s weapons programme for almost quarter of a century. That may not be true for much longer, says Michael Mandelbaum

JP O’Malley talked to author Peter Conradi about the authoritarianism behind the growing tension between a former superpower and its neighbours in the Baltic and the EU.

As an ex-communist, Russian president, Vladimir Putin will be respectful of the revolutions of that shaped his country, but will not endorse too much freedom, says Geoffrey Roberts.

Earlier the UK Government comfortably defeated a Liberal Democrat bid to give voters a final say on the Brexit deal in a referendum.

THIS year marks the centenary of the most important event in 20 century global history: the Russian revolutions of 1917.

Shinzo Abe’s courtship of Vladimir Putin has so far yielded little for Japan, writes Brahma Chellaney.

Fidel Castro was ‘the great master of political seduction’ and survived over 100 assassination attempts to build his revolutionary state, write Reuters journalists Daniel Trotta and Sarah Marsh

Trump’s election has continued a trend in the US of dumbing down political life that has pushed the country down a perilous path, writes Nina Khrushcheva.

Wales manager Chris Coleman admits there will be a “desperation” around his Euro 2016 heroes as they start their World Cup campaign against Moldova tonight.

A deal over Syria may be the most positive sign the world could overcome its many growing challenges, writes Peter Apps

Seventy years after his speech on the Cold War, Churchill’s words still linger writes Geoffrey Roberts.

Ray Ryan recalls an incident 50 years ago when a suspicious device was found washed up on a beach in Ballycotton. Had the Cold War’s reach finally found its way to Ireland?

The stakes were high at the Cuban military airfield in San Antonio de los Baños, some 20 miles south west of Havana, two days before Christmas in 1962.

FOR more than half a century America imposed a choking blockade on Cuba because it was socialist and dared to offer the Soviet Union a toehold in its orbit, just 90 miles from its shores. The blockade may have been justified all of those years ago, but it was sustained in a cold-hearted way that made an example of Cuba and condemned its people to live in a society, and an economy, that could not reach its potential.

Tomorrow is the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, which killed 70,000. Geoffrey Roberts looks at how and why we ushered in the age of the megaton bomb.

With enough nuclear weapons in existence to destroy humanity several times over, Hans Blix believes there is still an urgent need for agreements to limit their proliferation 

North Korean officials warned the United States that another war on the Korean Peninsula would leave no Americans alive to sign a surrender document as the country marked the anniversary of the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War more than six decades ago.

Richard Nixon had a great influence and his impact is still apparent in much of US public life, says Stanley Kutler.