Americas

‘Don’t allow deception to become reality’ on Taiwan, says Congressman John Moolenaar

By Katherine Golden

Moolenaar made the case for the United States to "push back" against the Chinese Communist Party's "false narratives" whenever they appear.

Vladimir Putin is trapped in a war he cannot win but dare not end

By Peter Dickinson

As the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale Ukraine invasion approaches, Vladimir Putin finds himself trapped in a war he cannot win but dare not end for fear of entering Russian history as the man who lost Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.

How Europe can shape—not fear—the US ‘hydrocarbon-state’

By Michał Kurtyka and Mateusz Kędzierski

The emergence of the United States as a hydrocarbon-state that combines resource abundance with geopolitical power represents an opportunity for Europe.

Dispatch from Mexico City: Trump’s latest consideration of USMCA withdrawal meets a measured reaction

Mexican officials and business leaders are not in a panic over news that the US president is considering exiting the trilateral trade pact.

US critical minerals policy goes collaborative with FORGE

By Reed Blakemore, Alexis Harmon

The Trump administration’s recently announced Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement, or FORGE, is a step forward in its critical minerals agenda.

Despite US exemptions, the show goes on for a global minimum corporate tax

By Jeff Goldstein

The United States may have carved out protections for its multinationals, but the global minimum tax continues to move forward. With more than sixty-five countries implementing the OECD framework, policymakers are betting imperfect progress will prevent a relapse into corporate tax competition.

Dispatch from Munich: Present at the destruction or the creation?

By Frederick Kempe

This year’s Munich Security Conference presents the transatlantic Alliance with two very different paths ahead.

I was wrong about fighting China in 2025. But the US still isn’t ready for that fight.

By Mike Minihan

A retired US general reflects on his earlier and controversial prediction that the United States and China were headed for conflict.

Narco noir: Drugs, gangs and mercenaries in Latin America

By Alia Brahimi

In Season 2, Episode 14 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by Dr Vanda Felbab-Brown, a renowned expert on non-state armed groups and organised crime. They begin by discussing the escalation of gang violence in Haiti over the last year, despite the arrival of the American PMC, Vectus Global, which is led by the Blackwater founder Erik Prince. Vanda points out that a recent air campaign weaponizing off-the-shelf drones was intended to decapitate the gangs but, while hundreds of Haitians have been killed, none of them have been significant gang leaders. They go on to explore why governments in the region allow and coopt street militias, the bunkering of fuel by colectivos in Venezuela, Hizballah’s continuing narcotics operations across Latin America, the IRGC’s role in drug trafficking, and how the regime in Iran ends.