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

Feb 9, 2020

Trump and two “black swans”

By Frederick Kempe

Coronavirus and the shooting down of the Iranian passenger jet are “black swan” events that expose the flaws of authoritarian governments in dealing with unanticipated crises. They also provide President Trump unforeseen opportunities to advance the two most significant foreign policy issues of his administration – changing China’s unfair trading practices and pushing back against Iran’s malign behavior.

China Iran

Inflection Points

Feb 1, 2020

The growing, global impact of Coronavirus

By Frederick Kempe

It’s already clear that the coronavirus impact, though too early to fully measure, will be significant on Chinese and global supply chains, markets and economies; on the legitimacy and the trust enjoyed by the Chinese Communist Party with its own people; and on Asian regional politics and US-Chinese relations, where trust already was in such short supply.

China Coronavirus

Inflection Points

Jan 26, 2020

Davos dispatch: Has China won?

By Frederick Kempe

2020 could mark a significant year for the emerging, generational clash between democratic and authoritarian capitalism.

China

Inflection Points

Jan 19, 2020

From Versailles to Davos: Confronting historic perils

By Frederick Kempe

What world leaders coming to Davos know is that history’s course is up for grabs again. Major power competition is heating up, inflamed by a systemic contest between democratic and state capitalism. The world is awash with uncertainty about how new technologies and rising environmental threats could remake our world. The international order of rules and institutions that the U.S. and its partners constructed after World War II is faltering and ill-equipped to navigate these challenges.

International Norms International Organizations

Inflection Points

Jan 11, 2020

Abu Dhabi dispatch: The Soleimani earthquake and coming aftershocks

By Frederick Kempe

The conventional wisdom – underpinned by visuals from Iran – is that the US drone strike reinforced hardliners and shifted the internal Iranian dynamics from protests against the regime to angry demonstrations against the United States. Far harder to measure is the longer-term impact of Soleimani’s absence on the country’s revolutionary effectiveness and structure.

Conflict Iran

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Dec 22, 2019

Six reasons for an optimistic 2020

By Frederick Kempe

Tis the season to be gloomy, when the world’s prognosticators provide their competing lists of the coming year’s top risks. And there are plenty of candidates, from Iran to North Korea, and from American elections to global warming. But acting on the advice of Winston Churchill, here are six sources of optimism for 2020.

Climate Change & Climate Action Conflict

Inflection Points

Dec 14, 2019

Boris Johnson’s next act: Saving the UK

By Frederick Kempe

Prime Minister Johnson – who famously craves both public attention and a place in history – won the former and a shot at the latter through a British election victory this week that was the most convincing conservative victory since Margaret Thatcher in 1987. To save the United Kingdom itself, however, he must reverse course, or at least amend direction, on much of what he has said and done to win in the first place.

Europe & Eurasia European Union
NATO leaders pose for a group photo

Inflection Points

Dec 7, 2019

NATO’s China challenge

By Frederick Kempe

China has emerged as the most formidable challenge that has ever faced NATO.

China National Security

Inflection Points

Nov 25, 2019

Iran: A time of reckoning

By Frederick Kempe

Iran faces a time of reckoning, and the stakes couldn’t be higher: potential war with the United States, the reversal of its gains across the Middle East and the future of its revolutionary state.

Iran

Inflection Points

Nov 10, 2019

Hopes and gains from Berlin Wall’s fall at risk

By Frederick Kempe

If US and European leaders don’t recover the common purpose they shared at that time – and there is yet little sign they will – this weekend’s Berlin Wall anniversary is more a moment for concern than celebration.

China Europe & Eurasia
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