United States and Canada

Building Virtual Communities: The Power of Technology to Connect People

Today’s technology has become the connective tissue of our physically distant lives and positioned us to quickly learn about and respond to COVID-19.

Coronavirus has exposed the United States’ own political virus

By John Raidt

Well before COVID-19 upended the world, another kind of virulence was seizing the United States by the throat—a lethal strain of division and dysfunction infecting the nation’s body politic. Though US economic indicators had been climbing to new heights, the public perceived the danger in political indicators tumbling to alarming new lows.

How testing can provide a way out of coronavirus shutdowns

By David A. Wemer

Testing “is really the only way out without having a vaccine or an easy therapeutic…to reopen parts of our economy and [stop] the ricocheting between either being shut down and therefore safe, or being active in the economy and therefore in tremendous risk for rebound,” according to Dr. Rajiv Shah

Three more reasons to be optimistic about Ukraine’s future

By Adair Appleton and Doug Klain

After spending a year studying with some of the best political scientists and economists in the United States, Ukraine's up-and-coming innovators make their mark.

US policymakers knew a pandemic was coming: Why they ignored the warnings

By Mathew Burrows

It's high time we bring the government’s decision making into the twenty-first century. The knowledge is there for how to do it. What’s our excuse as a country for ignoring it?

Infrastructure interdependence a threat to upcoming elections

By Nicholas Cunningham

Recent developments indicate that Russia could exploit the interdependent nature of our critical infrastructure to disrupt our elections via well-timed cyberattacks. How prepared are we to address election interference that goes beyond information operations?

Something is wrong with our bloody ships today

By Harlan Ullman

Something is wrong in the US Navy today and the problems are not only naval. Some extend throughout the Department of Defense.

Brzezinski and Skaluba cited in the Economist on COVID-19’s impact on defense spending

By Ian Brzezinski and Chris Skaluba

Ian Brzezinski and Chris Skaluba quoted on the likelihood that COVID-19 will drive down defense spending and the implications that has for reigniting the burden-sharing debate in NATO.

Here’s how the U.S. could lead energy rethink post-COVID-19

By Frederick Kempe

U.S. role as the world’s leading oil and gas producer doesn’t feel as empowering as it recently did, with oil prices heading into negative territory for the first time ever this week. Yet there is an opportunity in the oil industry’s unprecedented crisis – and in the further months of market volatility that will come with it. This period presents a chance for the United States to forge a better and more sustainable path to global energy leadership than can be found even within the vast riches of U.S. shale.