Johannesburg, South Africa Correspondent South Africa has spent four years declining to take a side in this war, which the Americans and the Europeans have found infuriating and which I have found instructive, because a country that is not a party to a negotiation can see the shape of it more clearly than the parties … Continue reading As U.S.-mediated efforts to manage the Russia-Ukraine conflict have continued alongside other global crises, what realistic paths remain for de-escalation, and how are the war’s ongoing costs affecting European security and U.S. domestic priorities?
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Should the United States maintain its current network of security commitments in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, or begin a more explicit process of prioritization?
Dayton, OH Correspondent — Commitments exceed comfortable capacity measured against simultaneous requirements in multiple theatres. The production numbers are still the argument. Artillery expansion took three years to approach the consumption rate of a single conflict, and the interceptor stocks used in the Middle East this year are on multi-year replacement schedules. Prioritisation is recognition … Continue reading Should the United States maintain its current network of security commitments in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, or begin a more explicit process of prioritization?
Should the United States condition further Ukraine aid on a defined end-state and on European ammunition production, or treat support as open-ended for as long as Kyiv holds?
Gastonia, NC Correspondent — Open-ended isn't a strategy. It's a feeling that resembles one on television. Kyiv holding is a condition of geography and will. It isn't a definition of done. Without a picture of done and a European factory attached, we're running a magazine as a moral subscription. Condition it, and not as a … Continue reading Should the United States condition further Ukraine aid on a defined end-state and on European ammunition production, or treat support as open-ended for as long as Kyiv holds?
Do gasoline prices at midsummer levels require a temporary federal tax holiday and drawdown of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or would those steps worsen the longer shortage?
Myrtle Beach, SC Correspondent — A holiday on a federal tax of eighteen cents against a five-dollar sticker is a rounding error with a ribbon. A reserve drawdown is a one-time sale from a tank built for a blockade, not for a midsummer poll. Neither drills a hole or finishes a pipe. Midsummer prices hurt … Continue reading Do gasoline prices at midsummer levels require a temporary federal tax holiday and drawdown of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or would those steps worsen the longer shortage?
Is the growing use of national-security justifications for tariffs and investment restrictions creating a new form of permanent industrial policy?
Owatonna, MN Correspondent — National-security language is being applied to a widening set of economic measures. Some uses are legitimate. Others are conventional industrial policy wearing a more convenient label. The tell is usually the product. When the security case is made about uranium or semiconductors, it's at least arguable. When it's made about a … Continue reading Is the growing use of national-security justifications for tariffs and investment restrictions creating a new form of permanent industrial policy?
