Russia

  • It was a decidedly down year for democracy across the globe. From the battlefields of eastern Ukraine to the smouldering conflicts in south and southeast Asia to the coup-infected states of sub-Saharan Africa to America’s gunboat diplomacy in the Caribbean, the putative gold standard of representative government took a beating over the past twelve months. 

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  • The Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), the Philadelphia-based think tank for which I write periodically, yesterday published my latest analytic missive on political developments in the Czech Republic. For anyone interested, the article can be accessed here.

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  • This is the final article in a four-part series on U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century, the focus of which is to explain how America went from being the self-proclaimed “indispensable” leader of the free world in the 1990s to today’s more conflicted and introspective great power.  Nine years ago, when Donald Trump was

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  • This is the third in a four-part series on U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century, the focus of which will be to explain how America went from being the self-proclaimed “indispensable” leader of the free world in the 1990s to today’s more conflicted, hesitant, and introspective great power.  “I’ve come here to Cairo to

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  • On the afternoon of August 22 at a White House ceremony, the US president wore an unsavory red hat emblazoned with “Trump Was Right About Everything.” Aside from the sartorial incongruence of presiding over an official event at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a hat better suited for a fishing derby or dollar beer night at

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  • “This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait.”  President George H.W. Bush made this statement 35 years ago, on August 5, 1990, a mere three days after Saddam Hussein had unleashed his massive army on Kuwait. The predmediated lightning strike by Baghdad’s forces quickly engulfed the small, Persian gulf state, sending oil prices skyward and

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  • This is the second in a four-part series on U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century, the focus of which will be to explain how America went from being the self-proclaimed “indispensable” leader of the free world in the 1990s to today’s more conflicted, hesitant, and introspective great power.  In a national security council meeting

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  • As many of you are aware, periodically I write longer, analytic articles for the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), a Philadelphia-based think tank at which I’m a non-resident senior fellow. My latest piece for FPRI, on the security challenges faced by the Czech Republic in the lead-up to October 2025 parliamentary elections, was published this

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  • This is the first of a four-part series on U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century, the focus of which will be to explain how America went from being the self-proclaimed “indispensable” leader of the free world in the 1990s to today’s more conflicted, hesitant, and introspective great power.   America entered 2025 somewhat bruised

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  • While World War II (WWII) progressively diminishes in importance for many in the United States, the Great Patriotic War, in Russian parlance, continues to weigh heavily on many of Washington’s primary competitors and heretofore staunchest allies.  One only has to view the visitors’ stand at this year’s May 9th Victory Day parade in Moscow to

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