In The News

China Pushes NATO Together: CNN

James Griffiths December 6, 2019
NATO members gathered to celebrate the alliance’s 70th anniversary in London, but relations seemed rough. NATO, a legacy of the Cold War, originally focused on confronting the Soviet Union and communism. However, with the collapse of the common enemy, NATO member states increasingly disagree about the meaning of its existence. Under President Donald Trump, the United States has questioned the...

China Warns US Over Uighur Bill: Reuters

Se Young Lee and David Brunnstrom December 4, 2019
China warns that a US bill calling for an end to detentions of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang could disrupt bilateral cooperation including trade talks. China is already sore about US passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Uighur Human Rights Act that includes sanctions for one politburo member. Businesses and investors are...

Limits of Russian Strategy in Middle East: RAND

Becca Wasser December 3, 2019
Russia, trying to restore its great power status, accrues influence in the Middle East. “Both the unrest in Syria and the Arab Spring presented Russia with the opportunity to increase its engagement in the region and were accompanied by a rapid uptick in Russian economic and political activities across the region,” explains Becca Wasser for RAND. Shared interest in selling fossil fuels helps, yet...

Politics Overshadow NATO Anniversary: Spiegel

Matthias Gebauer, Konstantin von Hammerstein, Peter Müller and Christoph Schult December 2, 2019
Preparing to celebrate its 70th anniversary, NATO is under attack by some members. French President Emmanuel describes “brain death” and US President Donald Trump chastises allies who do not contribute 2 percent of GDP to defense. Jens Stoltenberg, general secretary of NATO, admits that the allies disagree on some issues, but agree in “substance.” Analysis from Spiegel Online describes two NATOs...

Accelerationism Inspires White Supremacism: Vox

Zack Beauchamp December 1, 2019
Due to their own failures and insecurities, white supremacists emphasize otherness, resenting minorities and trends toward greater equality. While some of the most extreme have views that overlap with the alt-right movement, they express impatience and embrace an ideology of accelerationism, which “rests on the idea that Western governments are irreparably corrupt,” explains Zack Beauchamp. The...

Saudi Arabia’s Aramco IPO and Peace: Ozy

Sanjay Kapoor November 28, 2019
Trade is supposed to help secure peace, though trade in oil has been linked to war. So analysts mull over Saudi Arabia’s plans for the world’s largest initial public offering. The Saudi Aramco IPO announcement followed soon after the September 14 drone attack on a refinery in Abqaiq. Investors expect stability and so Saudi Arabia, unlike the United States and Israel, did not rush to blame Iran. “...

Xinjiang Whistleblower: Washington Post

November 27, 2019
China has placed hundreds of thousands of Muslims in prison camps for reeducation. “China is eradicating the language, traditions and religion of Uighur, Kazakh and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang in China’s far northwest, corralling them into concentration camps and bombarding them with indoctrination by the Communist Party,” notes a Washington Post editorial. “The student guide was revealed by...