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Islamic State Is Evolving, but Has the World Taken Its Eyes Off the Ball?
US-backed forces declared in 2019 that the Islamic State (IS) group had been destroyed. But as the past few years have shown, that only marked the end of its quasi-state that controlled territory in Iraq and Syria — not the threat it continues to present.
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Killing Grants That Have Saved Lives: Trump’s Cuts Signal End to Government Work on Terrorism Prevention
Tens of millions of dollars slated for violence prevention have been cut or are frozen as DOGE steamrolls the national security sector. “This is the government getting out of the terrorism business,” said one grant recipient.
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American Couple Held in Mexican Maximum-Security Prison Over Timeshare Dispute
A Michigan couple has been detained in a maximum-security Mexican prison over a timeshare agreement dispute. American Express investigated the matter and sided with the couple, reversing the charges, but the Mexican authorities arrested them on charges of defrauding the hotel chain.
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Foreign Influence in Higher Ed Addressed in Expanded Oversight Bill
The DETERRENT Act is billed –and its acronym derived from –as “defending education transparency and ending rogue regimes engaging in nefarious transactions.” It aims to increase transparency and tighten foreign gift reporting requirements for higher education institutions. The top three countries in giving in 2024 were Qatar ($342.8 million), China ($176.6 million) and Saudi Arabia ($175.2 million).
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Noncitizens Cannot Vote in New York City’s Local Elections, State High Court Rules
Though few localities allow noncitizens to vote, Republicans have made it a focus.
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Under Pressure from Trump, ICE Is Pushing Legal Boundaries
Confrontations with judges are grabbing attention, but more quietly a pattern of questionable arrests shows the extent to which the administration is willing to test norms and laws.
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Understanding Russian Hybrid Warfare Elections in Moldova and Georgia
While most Americans would be hard pressed to locate Moldova or Georgia on a map, these elections serve as a lesson in how Russia employs hybrid warfare to undermine U.S. security and advance Russia’s interests globally.
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Anti-Jewish and anti-Israel Bias Found in Leading AI Models, New ADL Report Finds
A comprehensive evaluation found that all four large language models (LLMs) — GPT (OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google), and Llama (Meta) — exhibited measurable anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bias, though the degree and nature of bias varied across models.
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ICE Detains Spouse of an American Citizen on Couple’s Return from Honeymoon
A 26-year-old Peruvian citizen who returned with her American husband from their honeymoon, was detained by ICE, and has been in a Louisiana correctional center since 15 February. Following her marriage in May 2024, they applied for her permanent residency. At the time of her detention, their application was under review by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
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The Paradox of Democracy’s Success: Behavioral Science Helps Explain Why We Miss Autocratic Red Flags
The era of global liberal democracy led some scholars celebrated the “the end of history,” as risks to democracy appeared ever more remote. But in the same way that a nuclear power plant may appear to be operating safely until the last safety valve is broken, democracies can appear stable right up until they flip into autocracy. The growing electoral success of extreme rightwing parties in many Western countries, from France to Finland and from the Netherlands to Germany, has turned the end of history into the possible end of democracy.
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“A Catastrophic Blow”: U.S. Shuts Unit Investigating War Crimes in Ukraine
Offering more support for Russia’s policy goals, the Trump administration has cut all funding for efforts to document and gather evidence on Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine. Experts described the administration’s move as a “a catastrophic blow” to efforts to document war crimes and bring people to justice.
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Congress: Retake Control of Tariffs and Let Businesses Get Back to the “Vision Thing”
The Trump administration’s recent tariff actions are undermining congressional authority and sowing chaos for U.S. businesses. Lawmakers should reassert their constitutional power to correct course.
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After COVID, Texas Is Less Prepared for the Next Pandemic
Five years after Texas’ first COVID death, the state spends less on public health, vaccination rates have dropped and a distrust of authority has taken hold.
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Trump Is Using the Alien Enemies Act to Deport Immigrants – but the 18th-century Law Has Been Invoked Only During Times of War
The Alien Enemies Act empowers presidents to apprehend and remove foreign nationals from countries that are at war with the United States. U.S. presidents have issued executive proclamations and invoked this law three times: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. All three instances followed Congress declaring war.
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Could the EU Become a Military Superpower?
Only two weeks after a European Union summit where the bloc’s leaders pledged to spend billions on defense in a “watershed moment for Europe,” they are returning to Brussels to solidify plans for strengthening Europe’s defense autonomy amid ongoing doubts about the US commitment to protecting European nations and sustaining military support for Ukraine.
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The long view
Factories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts
Wars are won by factories before they are won on the battlefield,Martin C. Feldmann writes, noting that the United States lacks the manufacturing depth for the coming drone age. Rectifying this situation “will take far more than procurement tweaks,” Feldmann writes. “It demands a national-level, wartime-scale industrial mobilization.”
No Nation Is an Island: The Dangers of Modern U.S. Isolationism
The resurgence of isolationist sentiment in American politics is understandable but misguided. While the desire to refocus on domestic renewal is justified, retreating from the world will not bring the security, prosperity, or sovereignty that its proponents promise. On the contrary, it invites instability, diminishes U.S. influence, and erodes the democratic order the U.S. helped forge.
Fragmented by Design: USAID’s Dismantling and the Future of American Foreign Aid
The Trump administration launched an aggressive restructuring of U.S. foreign aid, effectively dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The humanitarian and geopolitical fallout of the demise of USAID includes shuttered clinics, destroyed food aid, and China’s growing influence in the global south. This new era of American soft power will determine how, and whether, the U.S. continues to lead in global development.
Water Wars: A Historic Agreement Between Mexico and US Is Ramping Up Border Tension
As climate change drives rising temperatures and changes in rainfall, Mexico and the US are in the middle of a conflict over water, putting an additional strain on their relationship. Partly due to constant droughts, Mexico has struggled to maintain its water deliveries for much of the last 25 years, deliveries to which it is obligated by a 1944 water-sharing agreement between the two countries.
How Disastrous Was the Trump-Putin Meeting?
In Alaska, Trump got played by Putin. Therefore, Steven Pifer writes, the European leaders and Zelensky have to “diplomatically offer suggestions to walk Trump back from a position that he does not appear to understand would be bad for Ukraine, bad for Europe, and bad for American interests. And they have to do so without setting off an explosion that could disrupt U.S.-Ukrainian and U.S.-European relations—all to the delight of Putin and the Kremlin.”
How Male Grievance Fuels Radicalization and Extremist Violence
Social extremism is evolving in reach and form. While traditional racial supremacy ideologies remain, contemporary movements are now often fueled by something more personal and emotionally resonant: male grievance.