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

Sep 27, 2020

Election poses historic test for what Reagan called the US ‘miracle’

By Frederick Kempe

One can hardly imagine a more important year for the American democratic process to run smoothly, with China leading an authoritarian swing as its economy emerges first from Covid-19′s economic and social hit.

China Elections

Inflection Points

Sep 20, 2020

UAE, Bahrain deals with Israel offer the Mideast a historic chance for positive change—if the region will build upon it

By Frederick Kempe

These deals present the region its best opportunity perhaps ever to bury its bloody, self-defeating past and embrace moderation and modernity. Yet that will only be true if the parties can work with international partners to protect the so-called Abraham Accords Peace Agreement from extremist assault and from Israeli hardliners bent on territorial expansion.

Conflict International Norms

Inflection Points

Sep 13, 2020

Biden eyes 2021 summit as chance to rally world democracies

By Frederick Kempe

The Biden team grasps the significance of the moment. They began by dissecting how much the context had changed since former President Barack Obama left office. Global democracies were on their back foot and China was not only rising but growing more assertive and authoritarian. Transnational threats had escalated, from climate to organized crime, but the rules and institutions to deal with them had weakened.

China Elections

Inflection Points

Aug 2, 2020

China focus might distract the U.S. from the possibility of a Putin surprise in Belarus and beyond

By Frederick Kempe

For all the legitimate focus on rising US-China tensions, this summer’s sleeper surprise for the West is more likely to emerge from Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The question is: will it grow from Russia’s strength, its weakness or some combination of the two?

Belarus Russia

Inflection Points

Jul 26, 2020

U.S.-China confrontation is like nothing we’ve seen before

By Frederick Kempe

The escalating confrontation between the United States and China is so perilous because the world’s two largest economies – and the two defining countries of their times – are navigating uncharted terrain. It isn’t a struggle over “world domination,” which no country has ever achieved, but it could have significant impact on “world determination.”

China Conflict

Inflection Points

Jul 19, 2020

China has already decided Cold War II has begun – now it’s escalating

By Frederick Kempe

Trump administration officials believe their increasing efforts to counter a more assertive China could prove to be their most significant foreign policy legacy. That will only be true if they can combine it with a strategy that can sustain the effort in concert with allies and far beyond the limits of any single U.S. administration.

China Political Reform

Inflection Points

Jul 12, 2020

Germany and Merkel have a shot at making both European and transatlantic history

By Frederick Kempe

History rarely provides major countries and their leaders the enormity of the second chance that Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel now enjoy as they begin their six-month European Union presidency.

China European Union

Elections 2020

Jun 27, 2020

China’s Xi casts his vote in U.S. elections. (Hint: it’s not for Trump or Biden)

By Frederick Kempe

China is creating new facts on the ground, expanding its influence across the world – from the Balkans to the South China Sea – as the United States wrestles with the myriad distractions of coronavirus, recession, racial upheavals and presidential elections. It will take a far more focused and consistent Washington, acting with greater cohesion alongside its global allies, to deter any such aspirations.

China Europe & Eurasia

Inflection Points

Jun 14, 2020

The perils of transatlantic decoupling and how to stop it

By Frederick Kempe

It’s time to take urgent measures to head off the danger of “transatlantic decoupling,” a strategic shift that would put at risk more than seven decades of gains in democracy, open markets and individual rights. Two world wars have taught us where transatlantic neglect can lead, while the history of the past 75 years underscores the value of common cause. We forget those lessons at our peril.

Europe & Eurasia Nationalism

Inflection Points

Jun 7, 2020

Why U.S. global leadership rests on how it manages anti-racism upheavals

By Frederick Kempe

U.S. credibility as a global leader depends on how it manages anti-racism upheavals. Americans have a shot at proving Martin Luther King right that the long arc of the moral universe once again “bends toward justice.”

Inclusive Growth Political Reform
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