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Hal Brands

Hal Brands

Foreign Policy

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Harris Can’t Ignore Foreign Policy Even If Voters Do

Foreign policy is rarely the dominant issue in US presidential elections. But it does, invariably, matter at the margins, and in a close race the...

previous day 4

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

US Allies Still Prefer a Weak Biden Over an Erratic Trump

The global democratic community is strong, but it isn’t particularly stable right now. Amid the unending political churn of post-Brexit Britain, the...

11.07.2024 30

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

Ukraine and the US Have a Serious North Korea Problem

There are lies, damn lies and rumors about North Korea. So treat recent reports that Pyongyang will send troops to aid Russia’s assault on Ukraine...

03.07.2024 8

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

Biden Faces a Hard Choice to Avert Israel’s Next War

Israel faces several grave decisions in the coming weeks — what to do in Gaza after the fighting in Rafah concludes, how to balance the campaign...

25.06.2024 10

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

The US Needs More Nukes. Biden Finally Gets That.

President Joe Biden has compiled, over the past four years, an impressive record of diplomatic about-faces. Saudi Arabia was originally a...

14.06.2024 9

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

Putin’s Shadow War Against Europe Is Intensifying

Russian nationals have been arrested in Germany on charges of planning to attack military facilities. English prosecutors claim that Russian agents...

31.05.2024 30

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

An “America First” World

What would become of the world if the United States became a normal great power? This isn’t to ask what would happen if the United States retreated...

27.05.2024 30

Foreign Affairs

Hal Brands

Why Won't Biden Let Ukraine Hit Russia Back With US Weapons?

Ukraine’s fate is no longer hostage to neo-isolationists in the US Congress. But its fortunes are still at their lowest ebb since the desperate...

17.05.2024 20

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

Putin Isn’t Scared of Ukraine’s $61 Billion Boost

Sometimes, foreign policy is simply about averting catastrophe. By that metric, Washington did well last week. The approval of $61 billion in aid for...

01.05.2024 40

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

The US and China’s Newfound Friendship Can’t Last

Ukraine burns and the Middle East simmers, but the Western Pacific appears relatively placid. There hasn’t been a major crisis in US-China relations...

23.04.2024 40

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

Iran’s Missile Barrage Hit Its Target: the Regional Order

Don’t let the paltry damage caused by Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel last weekend fool you. The Iranians intended to cause widespread...

17.04.2024 30

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

War in Gaza Is a Perfect Opportunity for Iran’s Nuclear Push

President Joe Biden’s Middle East policy hangs in the balance. Negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza have reached a critical stage. Attacks by the...

10.04.2024 20

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

The New Autocratic Alliances

The U.S. alliance system: there’s never been anything quite like it. Ancient Athens helmed the Delian League. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck...

29.03.2024 8

Foreign Affairs

Hal Brands

Biden Counters China by Partnering Japan and the Philippines

One of President Joe Biden’s top achievements has been his coalition-building prowess in the Indo-Pacific. The US has strengthened and stitched...

28.03.2024 4

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

The US' Waning Naval Dominance and China’s Surge Should Worry You

The Houthis are sinking ships and killing sailors. China is waging a persistent campaign to make the South China Sea its own private lake. Russia is...

21.03.2024 20

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

US Is Turning Its Back on the World With or Without Trump

It’s one of the classic lines in America cinema. In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman and Robert Redford are cornered by a posse of...

06.03.2024 9

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

Japan Isn’t Panicking About a Possible Trump Return

As former President Donald Trump rolls toward the Republican nomination, countries everywhere are preparing for what a Trump restoration might mean....

29.02.2024 6

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

The Age of Amorality

“How much evil we must do in order to do good,” the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote in 1946. “This, I think, is a very succinct statement of...

28.02.2024 40

Foreign Affairs

Hal Brands

The Next Global War

The post-Cold War era began, in the early 1990s, with soaring visions of global peace. It is ending, three decades later, with surging risks of global...

26.01.2024 20

Foreign Affairs

Hal Brands

Good Economic News Keeps Putting US Ahead in Cold War II

Amid cascading crises — a stalemated war in Ukraine, a febrile and violent Middle East, a clash for primacy with China — it is easy to despair for...

26.01.2024 10

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

The Promise and Peril of Geopolitics

This article is a pre-release from the Winter 2024 print issue of FP. The full issue will be available on Jan. 3, 2024. This article is a pre-release...

28.12.2023 10

Foreign Policy

Hal Brands

Biden’s Foreign Policy Had a Rough 2023, and 2024 Looks Rougher

There hasn’t been much holiday cheer for Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy left Washington last week without any new US aid for his embattled...

21.12.2023 10

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

The West’s Sanctions on Russia Aren’t Scaring China One Bit

War is hell, so countries — democracies especially — are naturally inclined to seek ways to avoid its horrors. Witness the hope that powerful...

14.12.2023 9

Bloomberg

Hal Brands

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