Order from Chaos

Marc and Debra Tice, parents of U.S. journalist Austin Tice, walk past a poster of their son after the news conference in Beirut, Lebanon December 4, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Questions President Trump needs to answer before negotiating with the Assad regime over hostages

Steven Heydemann · Wednesday, October 21, 2020

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The debate stage is prepared to the 2020 vice presidential debate between U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee and U.S. Senator Kamala Harris on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., October 7, 2020. Justin Sullivan/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo/File Photo

10 questions for Trump and Biden during their final debate

Samantha Gross, Michael E. O’Hanlon, and Thomas Wright

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman transits the Suez Canal, Egypt towards the Mediterranean Sea in a photo released by the US Navy June 2, 2016. U.S. fighter jets on Friday launched strikes against Islamic State from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, the U.S. Navy said, marking the first time a U.S. aircraft carrier targeted areas in the Middle East from the Mediterranean since the Iraq War began in 2003. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Anthony Flynn/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY

How to downsize the US presence in the Middle East

Bruce Riedel and Michael E. O’Hanlon

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

An aerial view shows Itu Aba, which the Taiwanese call Taiping, in the South China Sea, November 29, 2016. REUTERS/Fabian Hamacher

Stuck in the middle with you: Resourcing the Coast Guard for global competition

Michael Sinclair and Lindsey W. Ford

Friday, October 16, 2020

The U.S Coast Guard Cutter Diligence (WMEC-616) arrives at its new homeport at Naval Air Station Pensacola on a stormy day Monday, July 27, 2020. The 210-foot Reliance-class cutter joins the cutters Decisive and the Dauntless currently calling Pensacola home.Uscg Homeport Diligence

The future of the U.S. Coast Guard is in outer space

Michael Sinclair

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Chancellors, guests and graduates attend the first graduation ceremony of NYU Shanghai, the first Sino-US joint research university, in Shanghai, China, 28 May 2017.On May 28th, the pioneering class of 2017 at NYU Shanghai earned their NYU bachelor¡¯s degrees as well as their NYU Shanghai diplomas. The 264 graduates, who hail from China, the United States and 31 other countries, led the way into the hall of Shanghai¡¯s Oriental Arts Center packed with professors, friends, siblings and proud parents who travelled from around the world to celebrate the very first graduation of the first Sino-US joint research university. Chancellor Yu Lizhong and Vice Chancellor Jeff Lehman offered the commencement remarks. Yu asked the graduates to carry forward NYU Shanghai¡¯s academic values of independent thinking, innovation and creativity as well as its spirit of openness and inclusiveness to the advance of human beings and our society. On a day of many firsts for NYU Shanghai, both Chancellors also awarded the university¡¯s newly minted Medal of Honor to two prominent figures, China¡¯s former ambassador to the United States, Zhou Wenzhong, and real estate developer, Wang Shi. Both made brief congratulatory remarks to the graduating students, their families and dignitaries in attendance.No Use China. No Use France.

The deception and detriment of US-China cultural and educational decoupling

Cheng Li and Ryan McElveen

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

U.S. Army soldiers with the 1st platoon, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, patrol in Mainjui as local women walk by in Arghandab valley in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, May 9, 2010. U.S. forces are massing on the outskirts of Kandahar for the biggest military offensive of the nearly nine-year-old war, in the hope of turning the tide against a strengthening Taliban insurgency. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST)

America should stay in Afghanistan until an intra-Afghan deal is reached — not forever

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Masked men on skiffs are seen fishing illegally inside the Vaquita Refuge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California, off San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico March 3, 2020 in this picture released by the Sea Shepherd. Sea Shepherd/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT SEA SHEPHERD.

Saving the vaquita marina and the urgency of this fall

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Monday, October 12, 2020

U.S. military personnel greet U.S. President Donald Trump following his remarks to U.S. troops in an unannounced visit to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, November 28, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

Trump wants the troops home from Afghanistan by Christmas

Michael E. O’Hanlon

Friday, October 9, 2020

REFILE - CORRECTING TYPO An Iranian woman holds a red flower as she attends a ceremony to bury remains of 150 "martyrs" from 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war in Tehran, Iran June 27, 2019. Nazanin Tabatabaee/West Asia News Agency via REUTERS. ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY

How the Iran-Iraq war will shape the region for decades to come

Friday, October 9, 2020

India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japan's counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attend the meeting at the prime miniter's office in Tokyo, Japan October 6, 2020. Nicolas Datiche/Pool via REUTERS

This week’s Quad ministerial meeting, in four charts

Thursday, October 8, 2020

People walk past a Taiwanese flag amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Taipei, Taiwan, August 10, 2020. REUTERS/Ann Wang

A conversation on the evolving attitudes and shifting politics in Taiwan

Shelley Rigger and Ryan Hass

Thursday, October 8, 2020

India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pose for a picture as they attend a meeting in Tokyo, Japan October 6, 2020. Charly Triballeau/Pool via REUTERS

What you need to know about the “Quad,” in charts

Monday, October 5, 2020

Tsai ING-WEN, President of Taiwan, seen giving her speech during the EU Investment Forum 2020 in Taipei, Taiwan on September 22, 2020. (Photo by Walid Berrazeg/Sipa USA)No Use UK. No Use Germany.

For Taiwan, diplomatic green shoots are emerging in Europe

Monday, October 5, 2020

Sep 29, 2020; Cleveland, OH, USA; Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden debates President Donald Trump in the first Presidential debate in the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion at the Cleveland Clinic, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, in Cleveland. Mandatory Credit: Meg Vogel/Cincinnati Enquirer via USA TODAY NETWORK

Between restoration and change

Thursday, October 1, 2020

About Order from Chaos

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