The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) this month has sent shockwaves throughout the global tech sector — especially U.S. venture capital-backed science and tech firms, of which about half banked with SVB. This bank failure, which is the largest since the 2008 financial crisis, immediately caught the attention of federal regulators: the U.S. Treasury...
On March 10, Xi Jinping was re-elected for an unprecedented third term as president of China, solidifying his control over the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for another five years. While the election in China was performative, the message was heard loud and clear in Washington; China is not backing down and, under Xi, will continue...
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Mexico City this week to protest changes to Mexico’s electoral laws promoted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. They say the reform – which introduces new limits on the oversight and sanctioning powers of the nonpartisan National Electoral Institute as well as cuts down its size and funding...
On Monday, February 20th, President Joe Biden visited Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. While Biden’s visit may have been shrouded in secrecy, his message was clear: the United States would continue to use its intelligence, military, and economic pressures to support Ukraine in defending itself from Russian aggression. The visit and the...
In his State of the Union address last week, President Joe Biden declared his intent for the United States to lead the world in manufacturing and to restructure the supply chain to “[begin] in America.” He credited the bipartisan 2022 CHIPS and Science Act as the first significant step toward that goal, by providing an...
On Monday, February 6, Georgia’s court rejected the release of their former president Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili is a tragic hero in Georgian history, but he is mostly remembered for attempting to transform Georgia from a post-Soviet state into a liberal democracy. After coming to power following the Rose Revolution in 2003, Saakashvili rapidly perused policies to...
A peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea, signed in November with the goal of ending Ethiopia’s two-year civil war in the northern region of Tigray, is in jeopardy this week. Many local sources claim that Eritrean troops, which fought in cooperation with the Ethiopian military and friendly militias against rebel groups in Tigray, have remained...
This past Saturday, January 21, Peruvian police stormed San Marcos University amid the ongoing protests against Dina Boluarte’s presidency. These protests, causing over 50 deaths and hundreds of arrests and injuries, are a consequence of President Pedro Castillo’s removal from power. Castillo, who was impeached after he attempted to dissolve congress, represented Peru’s far-left Perú Libre party....
Last week, former Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian — who became famous and controversial for his role as the leading figure of “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy — was unexpectedly reassigned to a less prominent role as the deputy head of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs. Although the specific reason for his transfer is...
On Tuesday, January 10, Russian soldiers launched an assault on Soledar, a reminder to the world that the war in Ukraine is rapidly reaching its year anniversary. The war, which many predicted Russia would win with ease, is likely to continue well into 2023 and beyond, as neither side has successfully secured a decisive victory....
