Ben Roback: China. Under Trump, a threat. Under Biden, a competitor. His speech at the Munich Security Conference.

The President’s address was tougher on Russia, but far from radical. If anything, it risked being disappointingly tame.

Philip Mitchell and Chris Goddard: 2020 was a reality check on China. Trade offers opportunities for the UK to assert its values.

It allows for criticism and negotiation provided the West stands together to call out abuses.

Garvan Walshe: Navalny’s given Putin a splitting headache. Here’s how to make it worse.

The prominence of Russians in the UK means that the UK can play an outside role in making the migraine even worse.

We wish the new President all the best as he starts but fear that his term won’t end well

It would take a political genius of Mount Rushmore proportions to restore civic peace to America and Biden, for all his good qualities, isn’t one.

Daniel Hannan: It’s time to explode the myth of Trump and his unique appeal

The fundamental premise of Trumpism, namely that globalisation is bad for ordinary people, is false.

Garvan Walshe: Strife in the Caucasus. How Armenia and Azerbaijan are pawns in a new great game between Russia and Turkey.

Tensions have been building for the best part of a year, serious skirmishes broke out in June – and America is nowhere to be seen.

Garvan Walshe: Four actions we can take to help Belarus achieve its freedom

From working with Lithuania to enable gas pipelines, to relaxing visas for Belarusians, there’s much we can do to put pressure on Lukashenko’s regime.

Iain Dale: Good luck to Robbie Gibb’s prospective challenger to the BBC and Sky. And to News UK if it has a go, too.

Plus: Russia’s opposition leader was poisoned, so now slap Magnitsky sanctions on Putin. And: Phil Collins’ ungracious departure.

Jason Reed: History will judge us for our response to the Uyghur genocide

We could give in to the leftist, isolationist Little England vision of a reclusive UK. Alternatively, we could make Global Britain a reality.

Daniel Hamilton: Why I see hopeful signs for democratic transition in Belarus

The opposition has already demonstrated their courage and fortitude. By all indications, for Europe’s last dictatorship, change is finally coming.

Russians in the bed?

If Putin hoped that Brexit would detach us from our alliances, there’s no evidence of that happening so far, and much to the contrary.

The rights and wrongs of the Government’s treatment of the self-employed

The Chancellor should make further provision for them. But the vast though necessary expansion of state spending will need emergency powers-type checks.

Stephen Booth: An independent UK must decide swiftly on its preferred place in the world

Politicians are so uncomfortable talking seriously about our international role and relationships that instead we constantly engage in proxy battles.

Ben Roback: Trump and Syria. If your guiding principle is to withdraw from the world stage, his decision is quite sensible

“Sometimes you gotta let them fight, like two kids in a [parking] lot and then you pull them apart,” he said.

Lord Ashcroft’s Conference Diary: Are the “true Brexiteers” too Brexity to deliver Brexit?

And: The Defence Secretary denies we need to pick empires. Plus: More publicans needed in politics – and the menace of the anti-meat lobby.