Column The U.S. Intelligence Community Looks Ahead With Anxiety Emily Taylor Tuesday, April 13, 2021 Every four years, the U.S. intelligence community, led by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, publishes its Global Trends report looking ahead 20 years into the future. As efforts to identify far-off threats, the reports usually make for gloomy reading. This year’s “Global Trends 2040” report is no exception.
Column The ‘30x30’ Campaign to Save the Biosphere Stewart M. Patrick Monday, April 12, 2021 An extraordinary global campaign has emerged recently to protect 30 percent of Earth’s total surface from human exploitation by 2030. The members of this “30x30 coalition,” which now includes scores of governments, understand that climate change is only one half of the planet’s environmental crisis.
Column With Armed Drones, Smaller Can Be Just as Bad Charli Carpenter Friday, April 9, 2021 The U.S. Air Force just successfully test-launched a new weaponizable drone, the smallest drone in operation. There is nothing objectionable about the development of mini-drones. But the U.S. military’s obsession with minimalism also minimalizes public engagement with the wider ethics of armed violence.
Column A Very Dutch Scandal Frida Ghitis Thursday, April 8, 2021 Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Mark Rutte looked like the clear winner after leading his party to a comfortable victory in an otherwise muddled election. But in a spectacularly unexpected reversal of fortune, Rutte has suddenly found himself in a very Dutch scandal over whether he lied about coalition talks.
Column The Dangers of Groupthink on China Judah Grunstein Wednesday, April 7, 2021 There is nothing so difficult or so important as thinking independently amid a gathering consensus. Few people have the courage of Rep. Barbara Lee, who just three days after 9/11 cast the sole vote in Congress against the AUMF. A similar challenge is now arising in the hardened U.S. foreign policy debate on China.
Column Japan Makes a Model Partner for a ‘Global Britain’ Emily Taylor Tuesday, April 6, 2021 A prominent element of the U.K.’s Integrated Review is its “tilt” toward the Indo-Pacific. While the planned deployment of the U.K.’s aircraft carrier to the region is newsworthy, there is a lot more complexity beneath the surface of this eastward pivot. One feature, in particular, is the U.K.’s relationship with Japan.
Column A Concert of Powers Is an Idea Whose Time Has Come—and Gone Stewart M. Patrick Monday, April 5, 2021 In the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, two luminaries of the U.S. foreign policy establishment make a provocative, seductive but ultimately unpersuasive case for creating a new “global concert of major powers” for the 21st century, modeled on the Concert of Europe. Their nostalgia is misplaced.
Column How the U.S. Should Respond to Russia’s New Escalation in Ukraine Candace Rondeaux Friday, April 2, 2021 Amid the slow-burning war in eastern Ukraine, one question has loomed: How will the U.S. and NATO respond if Russian troops cross back over the line dividing Ukrainian soldiers and Russian-backed separatists? With reports of a new buildup of Russian forces, Washington and Brussels may need quick answers soon.
Column Israel Is No Longer Right or Left. It’s Pro- and Anti-Netanyahu Frida Ghitis Thursday, April 1, 2021 Before Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure as prime minister, the longest in Israel’s history, Israelis delineated their parties’ political contours on the basis of ideology—right or left. But Netanyahu’s hold on power has fully reframed Israel’s political divisions, which are now for or against Netanyahu.
Column Is a Belated Western Rival to China’s Belt and Road Too Late? Howard W. French Wednesday, March 31, 2021 A mooted American proposal to compete with China’s Belt and Road Initiative is very belated, and still presumably embryonic. For too long, neither the U.S. nor its richest allies have proposed anything of substance to compete with China over the basic infrastructure so vitally needed by much of the world.
Column The Story of the U.K.’s COVID App, and Other Pandemic Failures Emily Taylor Tuesday, March 30, 2021 As the U.K. takes its first steps out of a five-month lockdown, Britons are proud of the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program. Before the vaccine, there was the app, which the British government promised would be “world beating.” Like many other aspects of its pandemic policies, that claim didn’t age well.
Column Four Lessons From a Painful Pandemic Year Stewart M. Patrick Monday, March 29, 2021 As COVID-19 starts to loosen its grip on the world, it makes sense to ask what we’ve learned from this punishing experience, so that we can be better prepared when the next pandemic strikes. Four insights from the past year should inform multilateral pandemic preparedness in the months and years ahead.
