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 12, 2025

Dispatch from Dubai: Trump is seeking to upend the global chessboard

By Frederick Kempe

On the sidelines of the World Governments Summit, an important debate is taking place between those who are optimistic about US President Donald Trump’s second term and those who are more wary.

Artificial Intelligence Middle East

Inflection Points Today

Jan 30, 2025

DeepSeek poses a Manhattan Project–sized challenge for Trump

By Frederick Kempe

Reports of an artificial intelligence breakthrough by a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for the United States.

Artificial Intelligence China

Inflection Points

Jan 27, 2025

Dispatch from Davos: Trump is both symptom and driver of our new geopolitical era

By Frederick Kempe

At the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland, attendees responded to the new president with celebration, dread, and a range of emotions in between.

Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia

Inflection Points Today

Jan 18, 2025

A Russian-Iranian inaugural gift for Trump

By Frederick Kempe

The new “comprehensive partnership agreement” between Moscow and Tehran is the latest example of greater coordination among the “axis of aggressors.”

China Conflict

Inflection Points

Jan 15, 2025

Blinken’s audacious final message for the Middle East

By Frederick Kempe

The outgoing US secretary of state spoke at the Atlantic Council on January 14, carrying an important message for would-be pessimists about the Middle East.

Conflict Israel

Inflection Points Today

Dec 21, 2024

The Middle East’s shifting balance of power favors Turkey and Israel

By Frederick Kempe

Syria’s future is uncertain after the fall of the Assad regime, but already it’s clear that two neighboring countries are big winners.

Conflict Israel

Inflection Points

Dec 18, 2024

The stage is set for Trump’s global leadership moment

By Frederick Kempe

The lightning-like fall of the Assad regime in Syria reveals larger weaknesses in Russia and Iran. These weaknesses present the incoming president with three historic opportunities.

China Lebanon

Inflection Points Today

Dec 13, 2024

Monitoring the global ‘Trump effect’

By Frederick Kempe

The incoming president is already making waves in China, Iran, Ukraine, and NATO as he articulates goals and the world responds to them.

China Europe & Eurasia

Inflection Points Today

Dec 11, 2024

Trump’s ‘deep state’ dilemma

By Frederick Kempe

In this more perilous world, the incoming president will need to lean on the proven patriots in intelligence whom he has disparaged in the past.

Intelligence Politics & Diplomacy

Inflection Points

Dec 5, 2024

Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize opportunity in Ukraine

By Frederick Kempe

Stopping Russia’s aggression in Ukraine will be Trump 2.0’s first test and opportunity, one that will have far-reaching consequences.

Conflict Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding
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