Last weekend, we hosted our Peace Through Strength Boot Camp for our National Defense Fellows. During the opening dinner our guest speaker, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, posed a serious question to the cohort: is the United States prepared for an armed conflict with China? While various speakers addressed specific issues, ranging from civil-military relations to...
On September 25th, Italy will hold a historic election. In a country where machismo has long dominated the political climate, an unlikely character is poised to be appointed as prime minister: a middle-aged single mother. While many would expect this to be a widely celebrated occurrence, some within the European Union and the international community...
On Wednesday, August 31, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, released her report on the human rights atrocities in the Xinjiang region of the People’s Republic of China. The report outlined the extent of the systemic internment of the Uyghur Muslims and other minority populations. This report had long been anticipated since...
One year has passed since the chaotic withdrawal of the American military and the collapse of the Afghan government. During this time, the Taliban has proven they were much more apt to conquer the country than govern it, as economic collapse and food shortages have brought yet another chapter of hardship and suffering for the...
Once at the forefront of global attention, the Syrian civil war now rarely registers comment. What more is there to observe, beyond dashed dreams, widespread desolation, and the ruthless will of despots? Yet Syria today is an expanding crisis, pitting the United States and its partners against Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime, with consequences...
On Monday, China’s Health Minister Ma Xiaowei announced “the strictest, most thorough, most resolute and decisive” measures in combating a Covid surge, thereby doubling down on China’s “Zero-Covid” policy. The policy restricts foreign and domestic travel, shutters nonessential businesses, reduces public services, and metes out massive quarantines when cases are detected. China’s “Zero-Covid” policy has operated for...
Monday saw opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif become the prime minister of Pakistan. This followed a tumultuous week in which ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan attempted to remain in power by unconstitutionally dissolving parliament. To the north, Pakistan’s neighbor Afghanistan continues its painful adjustment to Taliban rule, with the extremist group inflaming popular opposition and humanitarian...
In October 1935, Italian armies descended on Ethiopia. Over the next two years of war, Ethiopian courage and international condemnation upset Mussolini’s folie de grandeur. Eventually, though, the fascists’ industrialized brutality would crush Ethiopian resistance. Italy’s aggression not only cost Ethiopia its freedom but undermined the international order and emboldened Nazi Germany. In June 1950, North...
McDonald’s, Apple, Mastercard, and Coca-Cola are just a few of the thousands of companies that have recently closed shop in Russia. These corporate actions come as the United States, its partners, and other nations have imposed economic sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Through coordinated effort, sanctions are targeting every aspect of Russian...
Russian embassies have been the site of passionate protests the world over, as citizens from Madrid to Berlin to Washington have gathered to express their outrage at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In Taiwan’s capital Taipei, however, demonstrations against Russian aggression have a local resonance: the slogan “today, Ukraine, tomorrow Taiwan!” now pervades Taiwanese media. If...
