Section: The American Interest (USA)
No Time to Go Soft on Putin
With attention focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and the national unrest following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, several recent statements by President Trump concerning the G-7 meeting have gone largely unnoticed. First, Trump decided he would host the gathering in person at the end of June in Washington, despite concerns over...
The Shape of a Real Grand Strategy
While it is always tempting to assume that professional punditry is wrong—and the coronavirus panic has only increased the level of hysteria in the chattering classes—the idea that the world may be changing in fundamental ways has taken root. Henry Kissinger, the Yoda of international political wisdom, has pronounced it so: “The reality is,”...
Volodymyr Zelensky’s Moment of Reckoning
One year ago, on May 20, 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky took the oath of office as Ukraine’s sixth democratically elected President. He was swept into office with 73 percent support from Ukrainian voters, receiving the largest mandate in independent Ukraine’s 30-year history and humbling the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko.Zelensky came to...
Why Transatlantic Relations Are In Trouble
Transatlantic relations are not in a good shape. While Trump’s hostility toward the European Union is a contributing factor, it is not the only or even the most important one. For the partnership’s long-term survival, what happens in Europe matters at least as much as the outcome of the November election in the United States.Of...
Winning the Great Power Competition Post-Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired a new wave of familiar argument: that the democratic, free-market system that ushered in an era of unprecedented global prosperity and political freedom for decades was always destined to decline, with the global health crisis only hastening its departure as authoritarian rivals rise.It is true that the...
In Search of Lost Time
My wife has lost her sense of smell, and we’ve all lost our sense of time. Lockdown feels like one endless loop of a working weekend from home, a never-setting Sunday lost to conference calls that run into one another, unpicking knotted clumps of email chains. If, like me, you are recovering from a bad-ish bout of the virus, progress is...
The Coronavirus Test for Russia
The coronavirus crisis was not the kind of challenge the Russian government was expecting. While Russia was preparing for threats, real or imagined, from geopolitical rivals and internal opponents, the pandemic struck and has now paralyzed the system of personalized power. Russia, like the rest of the world, failed the coronavirus test. But the...
The Kremlin’s Coronavirus Gambit
Vladimir Putin knows a thing or two about a crisis, having caused a number of them during his two decades in power in Russia. And with the COVID-19 pandemic spreading, Russia’s president is observing the adage that you should never let a good crisis go to waste. While the world’s attention is focused on halting the spread of the...
Putin, Trump, and the Pandemic
As COVID-19 continues to claim lives and roil markets, it is also transforming political fortunes—not least those of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Both have faced blistering criticism for their oversight—or lack thereof—of the pandemic response in their countries. Both have doubled down on longstanding habits of deflection and delegation that...
How the Oil Shock Will Contain Putin
Two weeks ago, the movers and shakers in the oil-producing universe tried to convince the world they were on the cusp of a truly significant agreement that would slow the financial hemorrhaging of the market. Instead, they delivered nothing more than a slight ripple in a growing, fetid pond. The Saudis with deep pockets and untold cash reserves...
