Wanted: A U.S. Strategic Response to China’s Belt And Road Initiative

China is engaging in a nearly trillion dollar play for the future of Afro-Eurasia—called the Belt and Road Initiative—and has so far caught the United States flat-footed. Unless the United States works with key allies and partners to craft a forward-leaning response, it risks replicating the strategic failure that occurred in the South China Sea. The result […]

Rate this:

Bannon’s Path From Trusted Attack Dog To Toxic Liability

Steve Bannon’s departure as White House chief strategist abruptly severs Donald Trump’s most important political relationship — at a pivotal moment in his presidency. Exactly a year and a day ago, on Aug. 17, Bannon, a fiery populist who ran the right-wing Breitbart News, took over Trump’s struggling presidential campaign. The two outsiders joined forces to pull off the most shocking […]

Rate this:

Things Don’t End Well For Madmen

Donald Trump has repeatedly emphasized the value of being “unpredictable,” and has established a pattern of firing off ill-conceived threats that do make him appear slightly unhinged. His apparent hope is that this sort of behavior will persuade both allies and adversaries will do his bidding, for fear that this irrational and impulsive man will […]

Rate this:

Still In Search Of A Strategy

Through its first six months, the Trump administration has concentrated on two issues in its relationship with China: North Korea and trade. While it has secured Chinese buy-in for a new diplomatic framework for dialogue, the administration does not appear to have settled on an overarching China strategy. So far, there have been no major […]

Rate this:

When Words Risk Provoking War

Words especially matter between societies that poorly understand each other’s motivations and intentions, as do North Korea and the U.S… So whether or not President Trump intended an ultimatum with his statement on Tuesday that North Korea “best not make any more threats to the United States” lest it face “fire and fury like the world has […]

Rate this:

Guam For Beginners

The island of Guam is suddenly in the news because it is said to be within range of ballistic missiles from North Korea. A U.S. territory located in the western Pacific, Guam is the largest of the Marianas Islands, roughly halfway between Japan and New Guinea. It is also approximately the same distance from Sydney, Australia, […]

Rate this: