A Freedom Strategy for the Global South

Photo credit: Shutterstock.

In the current cold war, the US and its allies in the Free World bloc are in a sharp contest with the authoritarian, revisionist, and expansionist bloc of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The stakes could not be higher. If the Free World loses this contest, the freedom, security, and prosperity of Americans and its […]

Eastern European Views of the Upcoming US Presidential Elections

President Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, December 2019. Photo credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque.

Despite Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Eastern Europeans feel secure today. They have confidence in NATO as an organization led by the United States and thus appreciated in Moscow as strong. At the same time, some politicians and diplomats in Eastern Europe wonder what might happen to their countries if Donald Trump wins the presidential elections […]

Quo Vadis Germany: Is It Ready for an Era of Great Power Conflict?

Photo credit: Christoph Soeder / DPA / Picture Alliance via Reuters Connect.

The German term Zeitenwende, or historic turning point, entered the American political lexicon three days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on February 24, 2022. On that day, Chancellor Olaf Scholz convoked a special session of the Bundestag and employed this term to underscore the need for a dramatic change in Germany’s foreign and national security […]

The Outlook for European Security: An Uncertain Trumpet

Poland Celebrates 25 Years In NATO. Photo credit: Beata Zawrzel via Reuters Connect.

The American general Maxwell Taylor wrote a book published in 1960 under the title “The Uncertain Trumpet” about American defense complacency in the Cold War. It triggered a change in strategy. The trumpets of Jericho brought down walls. Today, a trumpet is needed to break through Europe’s walls of inertia and a comfortable “business as […]

Democracy in Poland

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Photo credit: Beata Zawrzel via Reuters Connect.

Poland’s democratic transition is proving to be turbulent and challenging.  The liberal center-right government led by Donald Tusk took office on December 13, 2023, after eight years of rule by “Law and Justice,” a nationalist right-wing party. The new government’s reform efforts face the kind of domestic opposition that may pose the biggest threat to […]