Foreign Affairs
@foreignaffairs.com
A magazine of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs, founded in 1922. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ Sign up for our newsletters here: http://foreignaffairs.com/newsletter
“Countering future threats is beyond human cognitive capacity—only AI can manage the speed and volume of data, which is why compatibility is the linchpin of modern military strategy,” writes former U.S. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll.
Rewiring the Arsenal of Democracy
America and its allies must scale together for a new era of war.
foreignaffairs.com
The United States must start prioritizing its relationship with Japan—or risk undermining its own power and influence across the Indo-Pacific, argue David Sacks and Nick Snyder.
Japan Is Giving the United States a Chance in Asia
But Washington risks missing out.
foreignaffairs.com
The United States should deepen its relationship with Taiwan—and soon, argues Jonathan Czin. Washington and Taipei “have an opportunity to toughen up the island while Xi waits to see what the 2028 elections bring.”
The Coming Taiwan Crisis
Use today’s calm to prepare for the next perfect storm.
foreignaffairs.com
“The world is learning from Iran, building on what Ukraine had already made clear: the future of war lies in part in precise mass,” writes @mchorowitz.bsky.social.
How Iran Changed War
The lessons of Tehran’s use of precise mass.
foreignaffairs.com
“No single country, not even the United States, can see, maneuver, and sustain itself across the Arctic,” writes Iris Ferguson. “Effective sovereignty there relies on building networks of dependence.”
The Price of Arctic Ambition
The Greenland deal proves self-reliance is not an option.
foreignaffairs.com
The Kremlin appears poised to prolong the war in Ukraine—and that “means escalating, abroad and at home,” writes Andrei Kolesnikov. “For Putin, escalation has become a principal means for maintaining power.”
How Putin Escalates
A new stage in Russia's confrontation with Ukraine—and the West.
foreignaffairs.com
On the latest episode of “The Foreign Affairs Interview,” Anwar Gargash discusses what the war in Iran has meant for the United Arab Emirates—and what a new, better Middle Eastern order might look like. https://bit.ly/4hc6t92
There are real parallels between the development of nuclear technology and the buildout of AI systems, but the atomic age “cannot provide a ready-made blueprint for the problem that AI poses,” write @claroche.bsky.social and @nktpnd.bsky.social.
The Trouble With the Nuclear-AI Analogy
In humanity’s quest to constrain the dangers from fast-advancing artificial intelligence, many have looked to the most revolutionary technology that preceded it: nuclear weapons.
foreignaffairs.com
“For the United States and its partners, the economic and military costs of the war in Iran are becoming unacceptable,” write Richard Haass and Carolyn Kissane. “It is therefore time to explore diplomacy once again.”
The Stalemate With Iran Is Not Sustainable
A diplomatic strategy to end the war.
foreignaffairs.com
Andrew McAfee explains why the European economy is falling behind—and calls on Brussels to build a “startup ecosystem capable of supplying the new growth that engines Europe needs.”
Europe Can’t Get Out of Its Own Way
The real barriers to competitiveness and innovation are still in place.
foreignaffairs.com
The Shara government’s austerity measures are making “life harder for ordinary Syrians,” writes @abujamajem.com. “If basic needs are not met soon, people could lose faith in the country’s post-Assad political order.”
Syria’s Imperiled Transition
How shock therapy threatens the post-Assad peace.
foreignaffairs.com
Last year’s Trump-Xi summit “taught a useful lesson: no amount of bilateral trade-related threats or exclusion from the U.S. economy would give the United States an easy win over China,” writes @adamposen.bsky.social. “Washington needs time to reduce its dependence on Beijing.”
China Still Has What America Needs
The Trump-Xi summit gives Washington a chance to buy time.
foreignaffairs.com
@richardgowan1.bsky.social argues that the United Nations must slim down to survive an “era of great-power competition and austerity.”:
Shrink the UN
The next secretary-general must get back to basics
foreignaffairs.com
Read @spsaki.bsky.social on what the current Ebola outbreak in Congo has revealed about the world’s capacity to handle future biological threats:
Ebola Is Only the Beginning
Congo’s warning for the global health system.
foreignaffairs.com
The United States needs to prepare to fight and win prolonged conflicts, argues Nadia Schadlow. “Even wars that prove relatively easy to sustain can be very difficult to end for good.”
America’s Attrition Trap
The U.S. military needs to build up its endurance.
foreignaffairs.com
If the United States maintains its extraordinary sanctions pressure on Cuba for another year, the island will become ungovernable, warns Will Freeman.
Cuba’s Point of No Return
The country is collapsing even as its regime survives.
foreignaffairs.com
By some measures, there is more war in the world today than at any point since World War II. On the latest episode of “The Foreign Affairs Interview,” Lawrence Freedman discusses this new era of conflict: https://bit.ly/3TzHtPW
“Far from weakening its rule, the way the CCP cleans its ranks can explain part of what makes it durable,” writes Andrew Mertha. “A purge is not an event but a process—one that the party has run in nearly identical form for a century.”
China’s Purges Are Working as Designed
A unique discipline system has helped the party endure.
foreignaffairs.com
“Observers must right-size their expectations for the coming summit—and refrain from putting too much hope in Trump’s ability to transform Xi into a collaborative comrade through bullying, flattery, or blandishments,” writes Orville Schell.
Trump and Xi Can’t Stop the U.S.-China Spiral
The delusions of summitry and the limits of personalist diplomacy.
foreignaffairs.com
“The ultimate measure of U.S. resilience in the face of digital Chinese chokepoints will not be the raw capability of AI models but the willingness of U.S. institutions to use them—before an adversary causes a major disruption to American lives,” writes Anne Neuberger.
The New Chinese Way of Cyberwar
How Beijing will weaponize digital chokepoints.
foreignaffairs.com
“Pulling back from Europe will not advance Washington’s interests in any part of the world,” argue Franklin Miller, Eric Edelman, and Walter Slocombe. “Quite the contrary: it will weaken not only NATO but all of the United States’ partnerships.”
The Crumbling Defense of Europe
Trump has already undermined NATO and allied deterrence.
foreignaffairs.com
“Putin has the institutional and practical means to do what he wishes. What he wishes, most of all, is to wage war.” Read Michael Kimmage and Maria Lipman on Putin’s enduring resolve in Ukraine:
Putin Will Not Yield
Pressure and pain won’t sap Russia’s resolve in Ukraine.
foreignaffairs.com
“When countries sign agreements with the EU, they are buying into a system whose core purpose is the preservation of rules and stability, one designed to outlast the political cycles of any member state,” writes Jonas Nahm.
Europe’s Hidden Trade Advantage
Slow and steady wins the negotiation.
foreignaffairs.com
“It is well past time to end the failed strategy of addressing Yemen’s problems through short-term military escalation and pressure campaigns,” argue April Longley Alley and Allison Minor. What will it take to stop the Houthi threat?
Iran’s Second Front
The Houthis’ bold advance has transformed the Middle East’s wars.
foreignaffairs.com
“The war on terror did not create American authoritarianism, but it certainly reduced the startup costs of an authoritarian presidency,” write Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon.
The Other War on Terror
9/11 and the unraveling of American democracy.
foreignaffairs.com
Washington’s hostility toward foreign investment is counterproductive, argues Brian Deese. “The United States is undermining its own industrial policy by denying itself the tools to become competitive globally in crucial sectors.”
The Case for Letting China In
American businesses need more foreign capital and know-how.
foreignaffairs.com
If the international system becomes less fragmented and more stable, “some of the foreign policy assets Russia now prizes most would begin to lose their value,” writes Andrey Kortunov. “The softer forms of power, which Moscow has long underrated, would matter more.”
The Coming Risks to Russian Power
Can Moscow adjust its foreign policy for a changing world?
foreignaffairs.com
In a new episode of “The Foreign Affairs Interview,” Jason Bordoff and Meghan O’Sullivan discuss how governments are weaponizing energy to devastating effect. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3UL4JL8
“It is wrong to write off sanctions as a policy tool,” argue Robin Brooks and Ben Harris. “Sanctions have the potential to send the ruble into a spiral of depreciation, which in turn would send inflation soaring and destabilize the country’s broader economy.”
The Right Way to Sanction Russia
How Europe can disrupt Moscow’s oil windfall.
foreignaffairs.com
U.S. officials shouldn’t burnish al-Qaeda’s “legacy by acting and speaking as if it still exists,” writes Audrey Kurth Cronin.
How al-Qaeda Ended
Terrorists sometimes defeat themselves.
foreignaffairs.com