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White House Plans to Improve Supply Chains Is Comprehensive, but Challenge Will Be in Execution
“Modern supply chains are global,” says an expert. “COVID-19 showed that our supply chains are also fragile, highlighting the need for resiliency. Deeper engagement with allies and partners is to recognize the role of multiple nations in supply chains and coordinate with them for ensuring resiliency.”
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Mexico’s Lawsuit Against U.S. Gunmakers Has Cleared a Big Hurdle
A federal law protects American gun manufacturers against most lawsuits, but an appeals court has allowed Mexico’s case to move forward. The Mexican government accusing America’s largest gunmakers of aiding and abetting the trafficking of weapons across the border.
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Advancing the U.S. Coast Guard's Global Impact
The U.S. Coast Guard is in high demand globally, engaging with over 160 countries on every continent and in every ocean. The service could better meet its strategic goals through enhanced internal coordination and prioritization of its international affairs efforts, as well as increased resources.
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Thailand Seeking Investment for Strategic ‘Landbridge’
Thailand is trying to drum up investment for a “landbridge” across its southern neck, which would cut cargo transit times from the Pacific to Indian oceans and boost the kingdom’s strategic importance by providing an alternative route for Chinese trade that could bypass Singapore and the Straits of Malacca. Beijing has historically preferred the idea of a deep-water, Suez Canal-style route across Thailand for its ships, but the landbridge idea appears to finally put an end to aspirations for the so-called Kra Canal, a generations-old vision to dig a deep waterway across southern Thailand to allow large ships to pass, cutting at least a day off of sailing time around the Straits of Malacca.
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Could International Pressure Ultimately Strengthen U.S. Gun Laws?
American gun politics and policy have sway far beyond our borders. U.S. guns fuel cartel violence in Mexico, find their way to crime scenes in Canada, and are contributing to a rising gun violence epidemic in the Caribbean. Despite this global dimension, the influence hasn’t run in the other direction. A new organization that’s representing Mexico in a lawsuit against American gun manufacturers and dealers hopes to accomplish just that.
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Central Asia Key to Breaking China's Rare Earth Monopoly
U.S. officials hoping to break China’s near monopoly on the production of rare earth elements needed for many cutting-edge technologies should engage the governments of Central Asia to develop high concentrations of REEs found in the region, says a new report.
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New Russian Disinformation Campaigns Prove the Past Is Prequel
Since 2016, conversations about disinformation have focused on the role of technology—from chatbots to deepfakes. Persuasion, however, is a fundamentally human-centered endeavor, and humans haven’t changed. Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren write the fundamentals of covert influence haven’t either.
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EU Migration Control: Morocco's Growing Role
Morocco intensifies its gatekeeper role in EU migration, stopping 87,000 migrants in 2023. Key to the deal is European acceptance of Morocco’s claim to disputed Western Sahara.
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U.S. Lawmakers Push for Limits on American Investment in China Tech
U.S. lawmakers renewed calls Wednesday to pass bipartisan legislation that would restrict American investment in Chinese technology. A pending bill, H.R. 6349, would target specific technology sectors, like AI and quantum computing, which are empowering China’s military development and surveillance.
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Houthi Attacks: What Happens Next?
The longer the Gaza War goes on the greater the concern that it will escalate into something much larger. The most dramatic escalation has been with the Houthis in Yemen. The threat their actions pose to international shipping led to US and UK strikes early on Friday morning. As the dust settles on these strikes and the Houthis threaten retaliation, has this brought us closer to a wider war?
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Israel/Gaza: Retrospect and Prospect
Planning for the ‘Day After’: After three months of this war Israel has weakened Hamas but not eliminated it, and cannot promise that elimination can be achieved quickly, if at all. The Israeli government is close to breaking point and perhaps only if it breaks will there be an opportunity for a serious consideration of options for addressing the Palestinian issue. There are, however, reasons why this issue has proved to be intractable in the past.
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Namibia’s Reparations Conundrum
In 2021 the governments of Namibia and Germany announced an agreement for Germany to pay reparations to Namibia for atrocities committed by the German colonial authorities in Namibia between 1904 and 1908. The Herero and Nama people, the two main targets of German colonial brutality, argue that they were the ones to suffer most from German colonial brutality, yet they were not included in the negotiations over reparations, their voices were not heard, and their grievance have not been addressed.
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Ethiopia and Somalia: Conflict Intensifies Over Port Deal
Ethiopia’s agreement with breakaway region Somaliland, seeking port access in exchange for potential sovereignty recognition, could cause upheaval in the Horn of Africa. Somalia views it as an attack on its sovereignty.
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Vietnam Isn’t North Korea—and 50 Years of Australian Aid Has Helped
How have Australia and Vietnam, two countries with extremely different political systems, built such a successful partnership? It was done through long-term investment across all the tools of statecraft—including diplomacy, trade and defense—with development cooperation as a key element. This enabled a progression from battlefield enemy to major economic and development partner in a surprisingly short period.
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Russian Revanchism Can and Must Be Defeated in Ukraine
The Ukraine war is only the first phase of a broader conflict between Western democracies and an emerging axis comprising Russia and its allies. And while the West enjoys economic, military, and technological superiority, it is in growing danger of squandering its advantages and paying a much higher price later.
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More headlines
The long view
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.”