In The News

Pentagon on Chinese Submarines in Arctic: Reuters

Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali May 3, 2019
As the Arctic warms, more countries venture into the region and the US Pentagon monitors Chinese activities. In June, China released a white paper that describes plans for shipping lanes, a “Polar Silk Road” linked to the nation’s far-reaching Belt and Road Initiative. “China, despite being a non-Arctic state, is increasingly active in the polar region and became an observer member of the Arctic...

History as Excuse for Abuses: Economist

April 24, 2019
China and India at times engage in a process of mythmaking and historical erasure in championing their thousands of years of history. A recent article for the Economist observes, “Nowhere more than in Asia do states and their rulers tend to think they represent not just, say, defined territories or peoples with a shared language, but rather whole civilizations, often cosmically ordained.” However...

The Mueller Report

Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III April 18, 2019
The US Department of Justice has released the Mueller report, with fewer redactions than anticipated by most analysts. The report details a systematic campaign from Russia to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump. The US attorney general in an initial summary and a press conference suggests that he regards the US president as exonerated, an opinion embraced by...

North Korea Tests New Weapon, Pompeo: ABC News

Karma Allen April 18, 2019
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is nothing short of audacious in his dealings with the United States as a world superpower. The dictator lured the US president into two summits, then balked on taking any steps toward agreement for reducing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Amid discussions about a third summit, the country claims to have tested a new tactical guided weapon and called for removal...

Lesson of Rwanda Genocide: Amnesty International

Joan Nyanyuki April 17, 2019
Rwanda’s genocide began in April 1994, triggered by a plane crash carrying then-President Juvenal Habyarimana. Soldiers set up roadblocks, and open calls went out over the radio for neighbors to attack neighbors. “Between the start of the genocide on 7 April 1994 and the end of the massacres in July the same year, around 800,000 people were killed,” explains Joan Nyanyuki of Amnesty International...

IRGC Designated a Terrorist Group: New York Times

Edward Wong and Eric Schmitt April 13, 2019
As part of the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign, the US president announced that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful branch of the Iranian military, would be designated as a terrorist organization. This classification would impose sanctions on IRGC members as well as individuals and organizations connected to the group. The decision, opposed by Trump’s national...

The Improbable Rise of Huawei: Foreign Policy

Keith Johnson and Elias Groll April 9, 2019
Huawei emerged on the world stage as a tech-savvy company in 2009 after replacing Norway’s entire mobile phone grid. In the ensuing decade, Huawei solidified its place as a global tech magnate and now stands poised as leader in the 5G network race that could dominate 21st century technologies like artificial intelligence. A combination of factors including governmental support, low cost and...