In January 1961, Dwight Eisenhower delivered his farewell address after serving two terms as U.S. president; the five-star general chose to warn Americans of this specific threat to democracy: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise […]
Last year turned out pretty well for Chinese President Xi Jinping. The economic slowdown stabilised, relations with neighbours such as the Philippines improved, and Xi strutted the global stage while hosting the Group of 20 for the first time. The year ahead, however, could be more trying as Donald Trump enters the White House and […]
Short of last-minute diplomacy, Donald Trump will inherit another hostage crisis with Iran on Inauguration Day—thirty-five years after the first hostage drama at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran ended, as Ronald Reagan was sworn in, and exactly one year after the Obama Administration’s swap to free five more Americans. Read Here – The New Yorker
During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Macedonian teens looking to get paid for ad-clicks, Russian cyber sophisticates apparently looking to tilt the outcome, and some homegrown mood manipulators broadcast outrageous and false stories packaged to look like real news. Their counterfeit posts were nearly indistinguishable from authentic coin and remain so, even in the face […]
Let’s take a moment to savor what looks to be Henry Kissinger’s final act. The man is 93 years old. At that age, most people are lucky to have enough energy for “Wheel of Fortune” and a few Facebook posts. Not Kissinger. These days, he’s playing the influence game against insiders who hadn’t even been […]
The uncertainty surrounding what a Trump presidency will mean for Russian behavior in Eastern Europe hints at a larger point: The biggest unknown for U.S. interests in the world in 2017 may lie not in Russia or North Korea or the Middle East, but in the United States itself. Read Here – Defense One
The sheer range of known unknowns for 2017 — the outlook for China’s economy, the effect of populism on European politics, the scattergun policy-making of president-elect Donald Trump — makes a low level of uncertainty unlikely to persist. Read Here – BloombergView
As 2016 comes to an end, the outlook for 2017 is shrouded in uncertainty. Tensions in the Middle East are rising, and populist movements have appeared in Europe and the United States. Read Here – Project Syndicate
No American President has figured out an enduring way to calm the tensions between the West and the Islamic world, which have a troubled, millennia-old history spanning the Crusades, the Inquisition, European colonialism, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Many, however, have at least tried. Read Here – The New Yorker
looking beyond borders 