Mark Porubcansky has been a foreign correspondent and editor for 30 years, serving until recently as foreign editor of the Los Angeles Times. He now lives in Scandia.
China is probably willing to use force, and take a big hit to its international standing, if it deems the protest a threat to the Communist Party and the system. But the cost would be substantial at a time when China can ill afford it.
In some ways, the Trump presidency has been a gift for China.
Yes, gun control would help. But confronting violent white extremists requires a broad counterterrorism strategy that employs sophistication, resources and persistence.
The huge deficits are gone. The government is taking in more money than it is spending. Unemployment is still too high but going down. And the economy is growing.
In attacking Omar and the other members of Congress, Trump said they ought to focus on fixing foreign governments that are among “the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world.” He almost certainly had Somalia in mind.
China has been effective at limiting the international damage from revelations that it has sent as many as 1 million people, most of them Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim minority, to what it calls vocational training camps — and what others call reeducation camps.
Massive infusions of aid to improve living conditions have been tried elsewhere. It’s an attractive idea. But it’s also very easy to throw away a lot of money and get relatively little for it.
Does the president want regime change in Tehran – with the risk of war? A substantially reworked nuclear deal? Or a tweaked deal that has his name on it rather than President Obama’s?
The two countries learned a little something about how far they can push on citizens’ rights, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop pushing. More likely is that next time, they’ll just act a little smarter.
Thanks, Saudi Arabia.
The fact that no one, except maybe Stephen Miller, saw this coming shows just how wedded we are to the idea that politics ought to make sense.
President Trump’s visit to Britain next week will include ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day, a reminder of common values and shared sacrifices. In other ways, it will be a very weird visit.
No matter how much power President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping think they have to shape their countries’ economic relationship, there are a lot of important things well beyond the control of either.
Does Trump, as he reiterated on Thursday, really want to renegotiate the nuclear treaty with Iran? Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton seem more focused on regime change.
What the U.S., Russia and China decide to do and how they do it will help determine how badly Venezuelans suffer and for how much longer.
Three ways to think about President Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of an agreement regulating the conventional arms trade.
Americans are doing a pretty good job of screwing up their elections all on their own, so the best way to influence an election is to act well before election day.
The actions of protesters in Sudan and Algeria are a reminder that there are plenty of people who know very well what they’re missing, yearn for it, and are willing to risk their lives for it.
Those arriving at the border may cite gang violence or economic hardship for leaving. But there also is solid evidence that one factor often behind it all is climate change.
Having apparently survived the Mueller report, President Trump appears to feel unchained — ready to “go full animal” in the words of Steve Bannon. What does that mean for U.S. foreign policy?
