Inflection Points

Inflection Points

A weekly column by Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe, Inflection Points focuses on the global challenges facing the United States and how to best address them.

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Inflection Points

Jan 17, 2021

Here’s how Trump’s parting acts have improved Biden’s shot at history

By Frederick Kempe

The past days’ events have greatly improved Biden’s chance of being the sort of transformative president who comes along only every generation or so.

Elections International Norms

Inflection Points

Jan 10, 2021

Trump’s resignation would be the best path to US healing—and global effectiveness

By Frederick Kempe

As unlikely as it seems that Trump would step down, his resignation in the next week would serve him and the country best.

Elections International Norms

Inflection Points

Dec 20, 2020

China’s Xi rushes to close EU investment deal ahead of Biden inauguration

By Frederick Kempe

President Xi isn’t willing to hit the pause button to provide President-elect Biden time and space to assemble his China team, reach out to allies, and frame his strategy. He won’t do so on trade and investment, nor will he do so in his efforts to crack down on political dissent at home.

China East Asia

Inflection Points

Dec 13, 2020

Biden’s best chance for Mideast gains: go slow on Iran and build fast off the Abraham Accords

By Frederick Kempe

Imagine President-elect Biden standing before two doors that represent the Middle Eastern quandary he faces. One door is marked “Return to Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal.” The other is labeled “Build Upon Trump’s Abraham Accords.” As it is with most of these tales, there are perils in both paths.

Economy & Business Elections

Inflection Points

Dec 6, 2020

Biden’s rare shot at a transformative presidency runs through Europe and China

By Frederick Kempe

Joe Biden has that rarest of opportunities that history provides: the chance to be a transformative foreign-policy president. That opening arises due to the urgent need to tackle COVID-19 and its global economic threats.

China European Union

Inflection Points

Nov 22, 2020

Record Asian trade deal is ‘wake-up’ call for Biden about declining US global leadership

By Frederick Kempe

The Biden administration has made as one of its top priorities the reinvigoration of common cause alongside global partners and allies. Reversing current trends, however, needs to begin with an understanding of where US “no-shows” have been most significant.

International Financial Institutions International Organizations

Inflection Points

Nov 15, 2020

Trump poses enduring challenge for President-elect Biden

By Frederick Kempe

President Donald Trump’s continued refusal to concede the 2020 election poses a host of national security dangers. However, the most hazardous of them all won’t be found on the conventional list of threats that occupy Washington’s legion of foreign-policy experts.

Elections Politics & Diplomacy

Inflection Points

Nov 6, 2020

Biden’s victory provides an ‘inflection point’ for American democracy

By Frederick Kempe

A Biden victory provides an opportunity for Americans to regain their appetite for compromise at home to tackle the country’s most pressing challenges and for international common cause to safeguard the gains in democracy and prosperity of the past seventy-five years.

Elections United States and Canada

Inflection Points

Oct 18, 2020

Whoever wins the US elections will need to save democratic capitalism through ‘new Bretton Woods’

By Frederick Kempe

Whoever is elected on Nov. 3 will be saddled with the task of reversing the slide in public faith for democratic capitalism before it becomes irreversible, and addressing inequalities while at the same time not sacrificing capitalism’s irreplaceable engine of growth and innovation.

China Economy & Business

Inflection Points

Oct 4, 2020

How Beijing gains from Trump’s COVID struggles and US electoral dysfunctions

By Frederick Kempe

Chinese officials will embrace this period as additional, welcome “breathing space” to escalate their ongoing efforts across a range of fronts to build upon their momentum – from tightening party control over the Chinese private sector, to the accelerated development of a digital currency, to closing remaining technology gaps with the United States.

China Elections
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