Of all the appalling pardons by Trump (and there are many), this must be the worst. A convicted narcotrafficking president leaves prison, thanks to Stone and Gaetz (with Silicon Valley investors in the background). Policy under Trump 2: have friends who can reach Trump. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Thought this was a joke post from The Onion, but no, once-respected institute, now reaches new low in our emerging crony-capitalist state.Campaign for a Nobel Peace Prize continues. (If you think there is peace in the eastern DRC, read the latest from Amnesty or HRW.) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/u...

So much for restoring US manufacturing. US automobile sector contends with tariffs, which are "a mess on top of a mess." No surprise that small and medium enterprises are suffering the most. on.ft.com/4nLta4u

US bailout of Argentina in question. Is a US promise to do "whatever it takes" credible from this administration? Especially with anger of US soybean interests over a bailout of one of its competitors. If additional IMF resources are required, will Europe and Japan go along? on.ft.com/3KPh2kn

Check out the MASSIVE crowd in DC marching to the White House to protest the federal takeover of the city! #FreeDC!

The We Are All DC march to protest against Trump admin’s takeover of DC is currently heading toward the White House: Via @benjalvarez1.bsky.social

We ought to think about #AI as a #humanrights issue. 💬 Sep. 16, I will be back in Toronto to give the Frank W. Woods lecture at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. Come join us! Registration and info here👇 munkschool.utoronto.ca/event/we-dat... #bigdata #humanrights #wethedata

Please join us for the launch of our E&IA Roundtable: 'Global Governance in Hard Times.' Presentations: Faude+Karlsrud; @yoramhaftel.bsky.social & @stephofmann.bsky.social; @ninareiners.bsky.social; Julia Morse; @mstephen.bsky.social. Comments: @hbirk.bsky.social; @tsommerer.bsky.social. Details:

Yet another way that citizens can push back against a presidential power grab in their city: serve on grand juries and refuse to indict. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...

My Trade Secrets today. India's east Asian-style goods export model has taken a bit of a battering from Trump, and it's not entirely clear what will replace it. Also, the UK brouhaha over age verification for online porn shows that deregulation is tougher than it looks. www.ft.com/content/13dc...

Easy to miss, with Alaska and DC news, but the Trump admin has sided with autocratic petrostates to block a treaty on plastic pollution. One delegate described the US position as "more regressive than the Saudis." www.ft.com/content/f808...

A reminder from the hellscape described by Trump (my city-state of DC): compared to 50 states, highest percentage of BA degree holders (26.9%); highest (by far) of PhDs (10.4%).

I have left the @cfr.org Studies program to join the Global Order and Institutions Program @carnegieendowment.org. Look forward to working with Stewart Patrick and @carnegieendowment.org colleagues on the urgent agenda of sustaining multilateral cooperation and reforming global institutions.

Absolutely incredible turnout for Budapest Pride! So proud of all the organizers, including some old friends, who estimate hundreds of thousands— major embarrassment to Orban

My entry in an earlier Iran debate,,about JCPOA. Despite opposition to the regime, Iranian views probably remain the same: widespread support for a national nuclear program (not a nuclear weapon). Argument against harsher sanctions then and military action to dislodge the regime now.

Electoral meddling again: Trump cabinet member supporting an illiberal presidential candidate in an allied democracy. After the Trump administration has targeted major instruments (USAID, VOA) that undermine authoritarian regimes. apnews.com/article/pola...

Much-touted UK "trade deal" is a "concept of a deal." Summary confirms what all trade experts know: the devil is in the details. For aspiring Range Rover and Mini owners, 10% tariff remains on cars exported under quota--better than North American imports (as US automakers notice). on.ft.com/4iUd9pK

Clear "Trump effect" in Australia and Canada, boosting center-left. Trump remains unpopular in UK, yet Trump-style appeal of Reform/Farage leads to big gains in local elections. Less perceived threat from Trump in UK? Or protest vote in local elections, with no risk of Reform national government?

So Waltz is not fired, just exiled to a cold, unfriendly, distant place, which will describe the UN for the next few years.

Waltz firing recalls The Mirror and The Light: embarrassed the king (Anne of Cleves for Cromwell; Signal for Waltz), and then enemies in the court move in for the kill (literally for Cromwell; not so serious for Waltz). Does not end well for several of those Henry VIII courtiers; in Trump's case?

An iPhone is a very sophisticated device, but this dissection demonstrates why disentangling supply chains and moving manufacturing back to the US is such a pipe dream. ig.ft.com/us-iphone/

I defer to Canadian election experts, but these results indicate a lot of strategic voting on the left, especially prior NDP voters. As well as a sad reflection on the US 2024 election: what would have been the equivalent scare to convince stay-at-home Dems to turn out? We had Trump, after all.

Recently read All The King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. Based on Huey Long, one of the greatest US novels about politics. Story of populist Willie Stark and his journalist-fixer Jack Burden definitely resonates today. Streamed 1949 film of same; won 3 Oscars, even darker than the novel.

Looks like Australia is following Canada: a Trumpy right-wing leader is losing ground to Labour. The Trump brand does not seem to be playing well internationally (or increasingly in the US?). on.ft.com/3YzWXTf

If you are not alarmed by current events: Martin Wolf in the pages of the very mainstream FT: "The debate over whether to take Trump literally or seriously is over. His administration is engaged in a comprehensive assault on the American republic and the global order it created." on.ft.com/3R6R6Ro

The US ends lifesaving food aid for millions in 14 countries, including Syria, Afghanistan, & Yemen. The World Food Program calls it a ‘death sentence’ These life-saving programs, some of the last humanitarian aid to these countries, were being canceled “for the convenience of the US Government”

Jennifer Hillman's arguments on the abuse of presidential power by Trump apply even more clearly to the latest barrage of tariffs. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trum...

Great turnout at the Washington Monument, with spillover from the Sylvan Theater onto the Mall, where min-demos took place. Wonderful, creative signs and inspiring speeches by Jamie Raskin (D, MD) and Maxwell Frost (D, FLA).

Now our national security team is being determined by right-wing conspiracy theorists. What could possibly go wrong? www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04...

This gets my vote for understated headline of the year (so far): www.ft.com/content/85d7...

The balance sheet of imperialism--but done in advance this time. You can bet that the loss of autonomy for Greenlanders will not be priced into the calculations.

Hard to recall a greater geopolitical blunder by a major power.

FT editors sum up the effect of the Trump auto tariffs: a US industry left with high-cost gas guzzlers as its EV (and other) production is disrupted by Trump administration policy and tariffs. China's tech lead in EVs widens; US consumers suffer. Oh, what a wonderful new world. on.ft.com/4hL90Ux

Exhibition on the first months of the American Revolution (250th anniversary next month) at the Society of the Cincinnati in DC. Everyone learns about Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, but the invasion of Canada and siege of Quebec are somehow overlooked. Did not end well then or in 1812-14.

It’s bottom right for the next 3.8 years

Drezner's World has never published anything not written by the hard-working staff. Until now. danieldrezner.substack.com/p/guest-post...

But then this administration does not care about services (like education and tourism) where the US has a positive current account balance, only forward-looking manufacturing sectors, like steel.

If you thought Canadians and Europeans were the only ones concerned over Trump's threat to alliance commitments, this just in from Australia, caught between a "reckless China and a feckless US." on.ft.com/4kF9H4C

Benjamin Franklin's recommendation seems on target: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately." So far, university leaders do not seem to be following his advice.

As a well-known authoritarian government might say, "Kill the chicken to scare the monkey."

If today's decision is a preview, the women on the Supreme Court (and Roberts on a good day) may defend the Constitution for the next four years. Justice Barrett may not be the next David Souter, but she is certainly less predictable than expected (or feared). www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/u...

Friday's Oval Office debacle has overshadowed last Monday's appalling UNGA vote of the US with Russia. Worth noting: not only did US vote with the Russian "hard core" (DPRK, Belarus, new African clients) and against Ukraine and all of its major allies,

It will take some time, but business leaders will recognize that damage to the "rules-based international order" is not just a question of norms. Rules are provide predictability. When major economic powers behave in completely unpredictable ways (see Trump trade policy), it is bad for business.

Excellent summary of the utterly incoherent, on-again, off-again Trump administration trade policy. I had missed Bessent's endorsement of "Fortress North America," echoing Nazi Germany's "Fortress Europe." The descent continues. . .

The moving service for Jimmy Carter mourns the loss of a former president whose career post-presidency was the greatest in our history (only John Quincy Adams comes close). The eulogies also comment on our current polarized country, especially Gerald Ford's praise of his former rival.

Pundits and scholars have long pointed to one great asset of the post-1945 US: good neighbors that pose no threat to its security and offer substantial economic benefits. Compare to the neighborhoods of Russia, China, or India. Now, Trump muses openly about overturning that signal advantage. .

Rewriting history on the far right: January 6 in the US; Jean-Marie Le Pen in France. His life was a catalogue of extremist obsessions on the right, from anti-semitism and racism to hostility to immigrants. But memories fade, and attempts at rehabilitation proceed. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/w...