In The News

Another Cuban Missile Crisis: Reuters

Andrew Osborn February 21, 2019
The United States withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and Russia soon followed. Both nations claim the other violated terms. Russia opposes deployment of such missiles in Europe, and Vladimir Putin claims that Russia holds the edge when it comes to first-strike capability, reports Reuters. Putin referred to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which “erupted in 1962 when Moscow...

Impending US Pullout: Times of India

Nayan Chanda February 20, 2019
The United States invaded Afghanistan soon after the September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, DC. After more than 17 years of war, Donald Trump signals that the war’s end is near. The “timing appears to be based on electoral calculations rather than the security situation on the ground, but New Delhi need not panic,” explains Nayan Chanda, YaleGlobal’s founding editor, in his column for...

Putin vs. US Intelligence: Daily Beast

February 19, 2019
The US budget devotes more than $80 billion on intelligence-gathering, representing more than 10 percent of the US defense budget, with many expenditures and details classified. Yet the US president has suggested that he does not hold much stock in US intelligence assessments. Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe offered a new example as shared by a colleague, during an interview on the...

US-China Trade Deal Not Enough: Project Syndicate

Minxin Pei February 18, 2019
If the US and China fail to negotiate a comprehensive trade agreement, bilateral trade, the economic relationship will erode as tariffs of up to 25 percent are applied on $200 billion of Chinese exports to the US, thus encouraging relocation of business activity out of China. Even if the two nations resolve differences over China’s state-owned enterprises and subsidies, the relationship could...

Chaos and US Standing: Times of India

Nayan Chanda February 11, 2019
Donald Trump blasted policies of his predecessors as foolish. Yet the president fuels uncertainty by abruptly changing longstanding policies and obsessing on quick fixes, ranging from support for a coal industry and rejection of climate change as a threat to blaming illegal immigration for crime and supporting a border wall. The president carried through on a threat to shut down the US federal...

New York Times: The US in 5G Race With China

David Sanger, Julian Barnes, Raymond Zhong and Marc Santora February 5, 2019
With the advent of the fifth-generation networks – technology that would revolutionize data transfer and better serve virtual reality and artificial intelligence tools – the Trump administration seeks support from NATO allies to prevent China from gaining a foothold in the 5G race. Starting with the United Kingdom and Germany, the Trump administration argues that any economic benefit from using...

New Yorker: Trump Eyes Iran as Bush Once Eyed Iraq

Jonathan Chait February 5, 2019
US intelligence officials testified on live television before a Senate committee that their evidence shows Iran has not resumed efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Donald Trump initially took offense, before claiming the public mischaracterized the assessment and the officials privately agreed with him. “Trump’s rejection of intelligence assessments of Iran’s weapons of mass destruction...