In The News

Don’t Bet on Enduring Republican Reset With Russia

Daniel Twining January 10, 2017
Donald Trump blasted critics who reject his plans to improve US ties with Russia on Twitter: “Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only ‘stupid’ people, or fools, would think that it is bad!” But Congress may not go along, including Republicans who worry about aggression in Georgia, Ukraine and Syria and criticized President Barack Obama for going too easy on...

To Confront North Korea, Talk First and Get Tough Later

William J. Perry January 9, 2017
North Korea borders China, South Korea and Russia, respectively the world’s second, eleventh and twelfth largest economies, and the nation is a few hundred miles away from Japan, third largest economy. North Korea’s nuclear program and erratic leadership could trigger war and economic crisis. The nation is signaling that its intercontinental ballistic missile program is a priority, explains...

The Hopes for Peace and Palestinian Statehood Fade Away

January 6, 2017
Conflicts that linger for decades are costly in many ways and threaten security and reduce trust for all concerned. The Economist reports on the speech by US Secretary of State John Kerry on the ongoing failure to end the “stubborn struggle” between Israel and Palestine. Kerry described the Netanyahu administration as “the most right-wing in Israeli history” and questioned how a hardline agenda...

Obama: Reaching Out to Adversaries, Alienating Allies

Uri Friedman January 5, 2017
Following the US abstention from a UN Security Council vote on Israeli settlements and Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech lambasting the policy, President Barack Obama’s foreign policy toward allies has been called into question. Uri Friedman writes in The Atlantic that Obama ran on a platform of embracing US allies as well as extending an open hand to adversarial nations such as Cuba and...

To Save Global Liberalism, Time to Look Beyond Government

Peter Westmacott January 3, 2017
Governments confront numerous challenges in 2017, ranging from a struggle to grow economies and create jobs to combatting terrorism, controlling refugees fleeing from terrorism and managing climate-related disasters. China, Russia and the United States jockey for power on the global stage. “But it’s precisely because governments are distracted or incapacitated that there is a role for non-state...

The US: A Country That Can Be Ignored

Leonid Bershidsky December 27, 2016
When the United States or other powers withdraw from world affairs, other nations hurry to fill voids and build influence. “President Vladimir Putin's Russia has been at the forefront of the effort,” explains Leonid Bershidsky. “In the latest development, on Tuesday, the foreign and defense ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey met in Moscow to discuss a plan for Syria.” Russia and the United...

Chaos Theory of Donald Trump: Sowing Confusion Through Tweets

John Wagner and Abby Phillip December 27, 2016
US President-elect Donald Trump follows a pattern, confounding global media and world leaders with provocative statements on Twitter, at rallies or during television programs. His staff then attempts to reassure the public with interpretations and insistence that social media messages do not reflect official policy. “But nothing has created more consternation for many foreign policy experts than...