Stopping forces at sea is as good as defeating them in the field. In fact, it’s better and far easier for a marine antagonist since troops are more or less cargo—a passive target—until they reach their destinations and unload. Even slowing down hostile convoys helps. Read Here | 1945
By hijacking a commercial flight in order to arrest a dissident journalist, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko would appear to have crossed a new red line vis-à-vis the West. And yet, Western governments for years have shown that they are perfectly willing to tolerate KGB-style abuses right under their noses. Read Here | Project Syndicate
The United States and China are locked in a contest for influence over the rest of the world. The new great-power competition looks in this sense very much like the one that took place during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. But back then, the United States had a compelling […]
With the two sides expressing a broad willingness to cooperate, despite deep-seated policy differences, the Blinken-Lavrov meeting could set the tone for a possible summit between Biden and Putin later this summer. Read Here | The National Interest
The information revolution has seeded a growing ecosystem of open-source intelligence services. Firms such as Recorded Future, DigitalGlobe, and McKinsey offer not only intelligence-like products, such as news aggregation and data analytics, but also such services as on-demand overhead satellite imagery and long-term strategic forecasting that were previously the purview of governments alone. Read Here […]
The Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to various new, repurposed or newly popular terms. The newest entry to the pandemic lexicon might be “vaccine diplomacy,” with some countries using their vaccines to strengthen regional ties and enhance their own power and global status. Read Here | Asia Times
Climate has moved from a lower-rung priority to a top-tier one—ushering in a new era of climate statecraft. What this means in practice is how countries employ a climate-driven agenda around trade, finance, development, and national and international security, as well as the tools of state management. Read Here | Foreign Policy
While Joe Biden is right to reject many aspects of Donald Trump’s toxic presidency, he should avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Only by recognizing the weaknesses of liberal diplomatic norms can the Biden administration advance the innovative, effective diplomacy the world so desperately needs. Read Here | Project Syndicate
Given the current bipartisan US antipathy toward China, President-elect Joe Biden is unlikely to change the fundamental tenets of President Donald Trump’s hard-line policy. But if Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping each invest a modest amount of political capital, they may be able to de-escalate bilateral tensions. Read Here | Project Syndicate
The visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to India for the third India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue coupled with the recent Quad consultations between the two sides have refocused attention on the ties between two of the world’s biggest, and perhaps most consequential, democracies. Read Here | […]
looking beyond borders 