Ideas

Risks Grow As Countries Share Electricity Across Borders

The world needs the efficiency of shared energy grids, so it also needs a way to prevent them from being used for coercion.

Ideas

How Does This War End? Afghanistan Endgame, Part 2

If the Haqqani network collapses the Afghan government, Pakistan threatens to make winning the next war even more difficult.

Ideas

It Matters Whether Americans Call Afghanistan a Defeat

The public’s judgment about whether the United States won or lost the war will affect civilian-military relations for years to come.

Ideas

‘One Belt One Road’ Is Just a Marketing Campaign. And Yet...

China’s giant project is a poorly coordinated branding effort posing as an infrastructure initiative. But it is also a new kind of strategic challenge for the United States.

Ideas

Trump’s Foreign-Policy Crisis Arrives

Competition between the U.S. and China may be inevitable, but if Trump and Xi mishandle the Hong Kong crisis, they could lose the ability to calibrate.

Ideas

In Afghanistan, Is Sirajuddin Haqqani Ready for Peace?

In peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, the United States should not fail to address the evolution of the Haqqani-al-Qaeda nexus.

Ideas

The End of the Dan Coats Era

Whoever takes over from Coats permanently could serve as a needed voice of clarity about America’s biggest challenges—or see the intelligence community further sidelined.

Ideas

Weaponizing Biotech: How China's Military Is Preparing for a 'New Domain of Warfare'

Under Beijing's civil-military fusion strategy, the PLA is sponsoring research on gene editing, human performance enhancement, and more.

Ideas

It’s High Time for Germany to Fund, and Fix, Its Military

The country is far from NATO’s 2% budget guideline, and its defense establishment is rife with dysfunction.

Ideas

Our Efforts to Prevent Nuclear Terror Are Shrinking. The Threat Is Not.

Five ideas to help Congress reinvigorate the crucial pursuit of nuclear security.

Ideas

Chinese Propaganda Goes Tech-Savvy to Reach a New Generation

As the Party’s propaganda strategies become more nuanced and sophisticated, so should our frameworks for understanding them.

Ideas

China’s Army May Miss Some of Its Modernization Goals

But the PLA will still have more modern armored brigades than the United States.

Ideas

Trump's Thin Skin Is Hurting US National Security

The president’s aides are reluctant even to broach the dangers of white racist violence and electoral interference with him.

Ideas

Here’s What Foreign Interference Will Look Like in 2020

The incentives for foreign countries to meddle are much greater than in 2016, and the tactics could look dramatically different.

Ideas

At Guadalcanal, the US Won Through Cost Imposition. Our Adversaries Do Much the Same Today

The WWII battle has plenty to teach us about 21st-century conflict.

Ideas

Stop the Slaughter of Our Children With These Weapons of War

Assault weapons are designed to kill as many people as possible in the shortest time possible. They are for war; they are not for sport.

Ideas

No One’s Going to Be Happy Giving Up Land to Fight Climate Change

Here are seven ways of understanding the IPCC’s newest climate warning.

Ideas

The Fight Against White Nationalism Is Different

The fight against ISIS offers some lessons—but also a cautionary tale on U.S. failures to combat an ideology.

Ideas

The Strategy of Violent White Supremacy Is Evolving

The failed approach of “leaderless resistance” gets a second chance in the information age.