Sarah Cook, Heritage
Olivia Enos interviews Sarah Cook on the Chinese Communist Party's use of soft power, disinformation, and censorship in its influence campaign. Sarah Cook is the Research Director for China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong at Freedom House and author of the Beijing's Global Megaphone report.
Thomas Wright, Atlantic
For 18 months, Joe Biden was able to contrast his foreign policy with Donald Trump’s by painting in broad brushstrokes. He was in favor of alliances; Trump was opposed to them. He believed in American leadership in the world; Trump thought countries were taking advantage of the United States. Biden championed human rights; Trump sided with the autocrats.
Dirk van der Kley, EurasiaNet
Beijing has adopted a new economic model for the region, investing less in major infrastructure and spreading its risk.
Simon Watkins, OilPrice
Given China’s burgeoning role in the Middle East - with Iran and Iraq, in particular, irreplaceable staging posts for Beijing’s multi-layered, multi-generational ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) – how U.S. President-elect, Joe Biden, deals with the country is a key question for the oil industry. According to a range of senior sources in Washington close to the new administration and to sources close to the governing administrations in Tehran and Baghdad spoke to exclusively... Читать дальше...
D. Herszenhorn & R. Momtaz, Politico EU
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Monday nominated his longtime aide, Antony Blinken, as secretary of state. But who is he and what will his relationship with Europe be like?
Barbara Demick, New York Review of Books
Despite mass protests and China’s promises when it took back Hong Kong from Britain in 1997, Beijing’s new security law is crushing the former colony’s autonomy.
Ivan Timofeev, Moscow Times
The relationship between Russia and the United States will remain one of fierce rivalry, and that paradigm is unlikely to change.
Pepijn Bergsen, Chatham House
The public health and economic response to the first wave of the pandemic appeared to provide some vindication of centrist technocrats against claims from anti-establishment populists in Europe, and this was supported by opinion polling in the first half of 2020.
Ben Caspit, Al-Monitor
In their briefly secret meeting in Neom, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed on the common threat from Iran, but did not make progress toward normalization.
Ivo Daalder, Sydney Morning Herald
Few presidents have faced as tall and urgent an inbox as the one on the Resolute Desk that awaits Biden as he walks into the Oval Office for the first time as the 46th US president. Among these are three nuclear crises that, if not addressed with urgency, could well come to dominate his entire presidency.
Xiyue Wang, RealClearWorld
New administrations in Washington have a tendency to blame foreign-policy failures more on their predecessors than on America’s adversaries. This was evident in President-elect Joe Biden’s repeated campaign criticism of President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, and Biden’s
East Asia Forum
The most high-profile outcome was the announcement of an ‘in-principle agreement’ on a Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) that’s yet to be signed. This will enable Australia and Japan to streamline the stationing of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in Japan and the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in Australia, to facilitate joint military exercises and disaster relief, and to bolster interoperability. It makes the RAA the second such agreement Japan...
Phillip Orchard, Geopolitical Futures
One has to wonder what Jack Ma was thinking when, in a speech in Shanghai in late October, the Alibaba and Ant Group founder ripped into overzealous Chinese regulators, accusing them of having a “pawnshop mentality” and stifling innovation. Beijing promptly suspended Ant Group’s upcoming initial public offering, which was expected to be the largest in history, costing Ma personally an estimated $3 billion. Days later, Beijing unveiled sweeping new anti-monopoly... Читать дальше...
Nikolas Gvosdev, Russia Matters
After every U.S. presidential election, hope once again beckons that the new administration will be more successful than its predecessors in improving U.S.-Russian relations. The 2020 elections may finally break that pattern. Assuming that former Vice President Joe Biden takes the oath of office on Inauguration Day 2021, he will take office not as an idealistic or naïve newcomer to foreign affairs, but rather as a veteran with a well-developed sense of priorities... Читать дальше...