“Boss Tweet” by user DonkeyHotey (via Flickr)
Political Decay
Patronage and the Pandemic

While we don’t have all the answers yet, early indicators suggest that the President is using wide latitude to direct supplies to his supporters and to benefit businesses close to him.

(Needpix.com)
Word to the Wise
Beware the Lion in the Kremlin

Vladimir Putin is a predator who feeds on fear and weakness. Appeasing him will only encourage him to come back for more.

(Official White House Photo)
Captive DNI
Intelligence Failure

The Director of National Intelligence was created after the 9/11 disaster to bring coherence to the intelligence community and “speak truth to power.” Trump wants a DNI who will tell him only what he wants to hear.

TAI Conversations
Robert B. Zoellick: “We Tried Autarky in the 1930s. It Didn’t Work Very Well”

The former President of the World Bank argues that advocates of “decoupling” with China are missing the larger challenge—and that today’s crisis calls for adaptation, not a retreat to autarky.

(Wikimedia Commons)
Oral History
The Forgotten Women of the Gulag

A new book by Monika Zgustova brings the harrowing, heartbreaking history of the Soviet Gulag’s female prisoners to life.

Fiscal Folly
Don’t Slash the Defense Budget to Pay for COVID-19

Coping with the pandemic will be a costly affair. But cutting defense spending—when China, Russia, and Iran remain significant threats—will only make us less secure.

(U.S. Navy photo/Released)
Hypersonic Weapons
COVID-19 and the Weapons of the Future

The coronavirus outbreak is straining U.S. deterrence and power projection abilities—and revealing our glaring vulnerabilities in the realm of hypersonic weapons.

(Wikimedia Commons)
Crisis & Opportunity
The Taiwan Factor During COVID-19

The U.S. can blunt Beijing’s aggression, undermine its propaganda, and improve our own public health response with stronger support of Taiwan. Here’s how.

Populism American Style
A Tale of Two Parties

How did the Republican Party succumb to populism within its ranks, while the Democrats have so far managed to resist it? A prominent Democrat offers his view—with lessons for 2020.

7th Street Theatre via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
At the Movies
All About Eve and the Rules of the Hollywood Game

The 1950 classic All About Eve vividly showcases both what Hollywood pretends to be and what it actually is—a contrast that couldn’t be timelier.

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