In this week’s editors’ discussion on the Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein; managing editor, Frederick Deknatel; and associate editor, Elliot Waldman, talk about the latest escalations in the United States’ tense standoff with Iran, and whether a path remains to deescalate the crisis. They also discuss the significance of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rare visit to North Korea. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up for our free newsletter to get our uncompromising analysis delivered straight to your inbox. The newsletter offers a free preview article [...]
In his 2014 book “Restraint: A New Foundation for U.S. Grand Strategy,” Barry Posen argued that America’s post-Cold War grand strategy of global engagement is costly, unsustainable and unnecessary. U.S. national security interests could be secured, he argued, with a leaner and more effective national security strategy that places more of an emphasis on air and sea power rather than the permanent stationing of U.S. troops overseas. In this week’s podcast interview, Posen, who is currently the Ford International Professor of Political Science at MIT and the Director of the MIT Security Studies Program, joins WPR’s associate editor, Elliot Waldman, [...]
President Donald Trump likes trade wars because he thinks they are “easy to win,” as he infamously put it, and because he thinks they will help improve the trade balance. Trump claims past American presidents have been weak, allowing other countries to take advantage of the United States in trade negotiations. As evidence, he points to the large American trade deficit. But any economist worth her salt will tell you that the deficit doesn’t reflect what Trump thinks it does. Instead, it simply reflects the propensity of Americans to spend more than they save and invest. Trump is wrong about [...]
