“Through his sweeping executive actions, Trump is showing that he is not a partner with Congress, executing its laws. He is the law.” Read Nancy Rosenblum and Russell Muirhead on Trump’s assault on the administrative state:

“This week’s recognitions do nothing, in practice, to give the Palestinian Authority more capacity or shore it up against Israeli aggression,” argues Shira Efron.

Trump’s approach to Brazil “is eroding the United States’s soft power and global legitimacy while also empowering its rivals,” argues Hussein Kalout. “It is, in other words, accelerating the rise of the multipolar order that Brazil wants to help steer.”

“If the goal is to make Russian aggression futile, then the United States and Europe must channel resources into capabilities that deny, disrupt, and paralyze the Russian military,” writes former Ukrainian defense minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk.

For Armenia and Azerbaijan, “the advantage of having the United States as a peace broker is that it is both powerful and disengaged from the South Caucasus,” writes @tomdewaal.bsky.social. “Washington has the capacity to end Moscow’s claim to be the region’s arbiter.”

Ukrainians are likely to live “in a state of war for years to come,” writes Nataliya Gumenyuk. To shore up Kyiv’s resilience, Ukrainians must “continue to build and defend the institutions that are essential to the country’s democratic foundations.”

“Concerns about Taiwan’s future are understandable—but they are also overblown,” argue Philip Gordon and Ryan Hass. “Unlike many other U.S. partners that are worried about their futures, Taiwan has valuable cards to play.”

“Absent a Palestinian state, Israel likely faces a forever war.” Richard Haass calls on Israel to help bring about “a viable, independent, sovereign state inhabited by Palestinians and run by them”:

From the archive: In a 2013 essay, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan discussed the 2008 financial crisis—and why so many economists and policymakers failed to see it coming.

Omar Encarnación discusses the contrasting political fates of Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, arguing that, in Brazil, “the need to protect democracy is felt much more deeply” than in the United States.

Join Foreign Affairs on October 8 for a virtual graduate school fair! Learn about best practices for applying and connect with admissions officers in live one-on-one chats. https://bit.ly/46f0euj

When Iran and the United States return to the negotiating table, “an urgent U.S. priority should be to restore International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring activities in Iran,” argues Robert Einhorn.

China does not want to replace the United States as the dominant global power, argue David Kang, Jackie Wong, and Zenobia Chan. “Beijing is clear—and has been since the beginning of the Cold War—that the goal is multilateralism.”

If the Trump administration can facilitate an agreement for both Russia and Ukraine to free political prisoners, it will “help smooth the way for talks over more vexing issues,” writes Tanya Lokshina.

“A large and coordinated increase in defense budgets, combined with expanded access to capital across European borders, is necessary to expand and to reduce fragmentation in the European defense industry,” argue Dalibor Rohac and Eduardo Castellet Nogués.

“This time it really is different,” writes Stewart Patrick. The unmaking of the West “will leave the open, rules-bound international order adrift, without its historical anchor and main motor for progress.”

Ukraine’s fight against corruption is essential to its war against Russia, write Daria Kaleniuk and ‪@halushka.bsky.social. To “deny Moscow the control it seeks” in Ukraine, Western leaders must help Kyiv build “a strong, democratic, and resilient polity.”

If the Trump administration starts withdrawing the approximately 2,000 U.S. troops stationed in Syria, it will become more difficult for Damascus to prevent ISIS’s resurgence, warn Caroline Rose and Colin Clarke.

Listen to the latest episode of “The Foreign Affairs Interview,” featuring Anne Neuberger on the risks posed by Beijing’s cyber dominance—and how the United States can protect its infrastructure from digital attacks: https://fam.ag/4nbhEzm

Russia is escalating exactly as predicted; we are still reacting. The EU needs a Russia strategy. Much more to do, but here’s a start. ⬇️ w/ @radchenko.bsky.social

“If Starmer fails to turn public anger into a more long-term optimism, sour English nationalism will thrive on that hopelessness,” wrote Fintan O’Toole in a 2024 essay.

“The Trump administration’s determination to make an example of South Africa has as much to do with the fixations of parts of the MAGA base as it does foreign policy,” writes Michelle Gavin.

Before Tehran can start rebuilding its regional influence, it must strengthen its conventional defenses—and it may look to China for help, writes Afshon Ostovar.

Israel’s aggressive approach to Gaza and the wider Middle East has been effective in preventing traditional terrorist attacks—but this strategy will “reduce the chances of a political settlement in the long term,” writes Daniel Byman.

“Although many officials in China want the war in Ukraine to end, Beijing is unlikely to play a leading role in resolving the conflict,” writes Da Wei. What explains China’s ambivalence in Ukraine?

As Washington’s influence faded in the Middle East, U.S. officials increasingly embraced “an ideology of wishful thinking,” write Hussein Agha and Robert Malley. “Over decades, the United States had gradually built an alternate universe.”

Even in exile, the Belarusian opposition is working to “ensure that whenever Belarus has its next political opening, we can swiftly take action and turn the country toward democracy,” writes Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

“If Europe wants to help shape Russia, it must start now,” argue Veronica Anghel and Sergey Radchenko. “Otherwise, Russian drones over Poland and Romania may be a harbinger of a far more troubling future to come.”

“Russian intelligence has a long reach, and the country’s leading cyber-companies have been made well aware of it. But the United States and its allies seem far less so, and that neglect could in the long run provide a significant advantage to Putin’s Russia.”

To disrupt Mexico’s cartels without courting disaster, the United States must “rewrite the rules of U.S.-Mexican security cooperation,” write Ryan Berg, Daniel Byman, Iselin Brady, Riley McCabe, Alexander Palmer, and Henry Ziemer.

“Instead of engaging on Washington’s terms, Kim, Putin, and Xi are now linking arms in Beijing, flaunting not only their growing willingness to challenge U.S. leadership but also their ability to do so in concert,” writes Patricia Kim.

To lead in the technologies and industries of tomorrow, the United States must create “conditions that attract both domestic and international private capital” today, argue Sadek Wahba and Jonathan Hillman.

In a 2022 essay, Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat, recounted his process of disillusionment with Russia’s leadership.

In the United States, support for political violence has gone mainstream—and the U.S. population may well become even more tolerant of violence in the years ahead, wrote Robert Pape in a 2024 essay.

Omar Encarnación discusses the contrasting political fates of Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, arguing that, in Brazil, “the need to protect democracy is felt much more deeply” than in the United States.

“There is a seeming logic behind Trump’s decision to turn away from democratic states and toward dictatorial ones: a desire to establish three spheres of influence that encompass most of the world,” writes Phillips O’Brien.

Read Joel Wuthnow on how an accident or miscalculation could spark a conflict in the Taiwan Strait—and how leaders in China, Taiwan, and the United States can control the risk of escalation: https://fam.ag/4638Llh

“Israel’s targeted killings of senior leaders in Iran, Lebanon, Qatar, and elsewhere show that Israel no longer adheres to redlines that its neighbors believed it would never cross,” write Meir ben Shabbat and Asher Freedman.

“Tilted toward India, current U.S. policy will deepen fault lines in South Asia.” To protect its interests in the region, the United States should rebalance its commitments—and start building a stronger relationship with Pakistan, argues Moeed Yusuf.

In the United States, public support for political violence is no longer limited to the fringe—and violent populism will likely grow more pervasive in the years ahead, warned Robert Pape in a 2024 essay:

“El Salvador is no longer a democracy but a state of institutionalized terror in which emergency powers have become permanent instruments of repression,” argue Beatriz Magaloni and Alberto Diaz.

Listen to the latest episode of “The Foreign Affairs Interview,” featuring Michael Froman on how Trump’s trade war has reshaped the global economy—and why there is no going back. https://fam.ag/47DDaYD

Read Leila Seurat on how Hamas’s approach to the war in Gaza has evolved over time—and how the group’s strategy “could make Israel’s controversial new campaign to seize Gaza City a military, as well as humanitarian, disaster”:

If Syria’s new government continues to repress minorities, “the result will be more bloodshed,” warn Steven Simon and Adam Weinstein. “The United States would be wise to encourage the transfer of some power to local or regional authorities.”

“The United States may not be on the precipice of a full-scale civil war, as some have predicted. But the country is entering an era of intense deadly conflict—one replete with politically motivated riots, attacks against minorities, and even assassinations.”

“With each concession, autocrats become bolder, defenses grow weaker, and reversal becomes harder.” Read @dziblatt.bsky.social on the lessons of Germany’s Weimar Republic:

To reassure Ukraine that Europe’s security commitments are real, European leaders must “draw on the resources of NATO” to support Ukrainian forces, argues @ivodaalder.bsky.social.

“The belief that North Korea’s increasing closeness with Russia will rupture Beijing’s relationship with Pyongyang is misplaced,” argues @luoshuxian.bsky.social. In fact, “history suggests the opposite.”

To deliver cheaper and more reliable power, policymakers must focus on squeezing more out of the United States’ existing energy infrastructure, argue Brian Deese and Lisa Hansmann.

In Alaska, Trump did nothing to push back against Putin’s narrative—and the Kremlin emerged from the summit “stronger than ever,” writes Celeste Wallander. “Putin flew home having demonstrated to his subjects that he was right all along.”