New York Times (June 12)
“America’s closest allies are increasingly turning to each other to advance their interests, deepening their ties as the Trump administration challenges them with tariffs and other measures that are upending trade, diplomacy and defense.” Much of the proactive push involves Britain, France, Canada, Japan and other middle powers. Their efforts “to come closer together as the United States recalibrates its global role… will be on display over the next few days as the Group of 7 industrialized nations’ leaders meet in Alberta, Canada.”
Tags: Advance, Alberta, Allies, America, Britain, Canada, Challenges, Defense, Diplomacy, France, G7, Japan, Middle powers, Recalibrates, Tariffs, Ties, Trade, Trump, U.S., Upending
Reuters (March 3)
“Europe’s dark defence picture has a bright side. President Donald Trump’s hostility to erstwhile U.S. allies in Europe… has scrambled the continent’s security arrangements. Yet leaders who gathered in London on Sunday have a consolation of sorts: the pressure to rapidly rearm gives them cover to hike taxes.” They can now “legitimately tell their populations that everything has changed. There’s a solid long-term argument for Europeans to make a bigger contribution to their security. It’s a silver lining for an otherwise gloomy outlook.”
Tags: Allies, Consolation, Cover, Defense, Europe, Gloomy outlook, Hostility, Leaders, London, Pressure, Rearm, Scrambled, Security arrangements, Silver lining, Taxes, Trump, U.S.
Washington Post (November 3)
“Donald Trump’s retro economic plan could be a disaster.” Tariff-reliant “Trumpian protectionism can’t create a world-class manufacturing economy.” Tariffs may be useful in narrow cases like “protecting certain strategic industries, such as defense. Indiscriminate, across-the-board tariffs, however, are a recipe for a less efficient, dynamic, economy and, ultimately, a poorer, less equitable society.”
Tags: Defense, Disaster, Economic plan, Efficient, Equitable, Manufacturing economy, Poorer, Protecting, Protectionism, Retro, Society, Strategic industries, Tariff, Trump, World-class
Foreign Policy (August 1)
The U.S. economic pivot to Asia began in 2011, but its tenor “has switched from economic offense to defense.” In the intervening years, “America’s positive economic agenda in Asia—opening markets, lowering barriers to trade, sealing agreements—bore virtually no fruit.” Largely driven by China, the U.S. instead raised tariffs, imposed sanctions, and “moved to de-risk and ‘friendshore’” supply chains.
Tags: 2011, Agenda, Agreements, Asia, China, De-risk, Defense, Economic offense, Economic pivot, Friendshore, Lowering barriers, Opening markets, Positive, Sanctions, Tariffs, Trade, U.S.
Fortune (April 24)
“National governments are spending a record amount of money on defense and arms, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a more complicated geopoltical environment push countries to buy more military equipment.” All told, defense spending grew by 3.7% in 2002. Roughly “half of that increase was due to a 640% surge in military spending by Ukraine, as the country quickly expanded its armed forces to defend against the invasion.”
Tags: Arms, Complicated, Defense, Environment, Geopoltical, Governments, Military equipment, Record, Russia, Spending, Ukraine
Washington Post (March 9)
European leaders may “attest to a continent fully awakened to the reality of the war. But the truth is that Europe has not taken its defense seriously before now, and it cannot be strategically ‘autonomous’ until it does.” Home to 450 million people with a $17 trillion GDP, defense spending in excess of $200 billion annually, the EU needs to get its act together. “A strong, autonomous Europe benefits the United States as much as it does Europe itself: Partners working in tandem present a more formidable front against any military threat.”
Tags: $17 trillion, Autonomous, Awakened, Defense, Europe, GDP, Leaders, Partners, Reality, Spending, Strategic, U.S., War
The New Yorker (February 14)
“Trump’s defense was an insult to the impeachment proceedings and an assault on reason…. Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial was an artifact of his Presidency. It was a battle of meaning against noise, against nothing-means-anything-and-everything-is-the-same nihilism—and nihilism won.”
Tags: Assault, Defense, Impeachment, Insult, Meaning, Nihilism, Noise, Proceedings, Reason, Trump
Deutsche Welle (June 7)
“Donald Trump seems to finally be making good on his threat …. to punish Germany.” The sudden move to remove 9,500 troops is “misguided.” It “does not make military sense” and “has shown once again that NATO’s European members cannot rely on the commander-in-chief in the White House. It is a wake-up call for Europeans to take the initiative when it comes to their own defense, and actually spend more money on it.”
Washington Post (January 15)
“China’s drive to acquire cutting-edge weaponry and establish itself as a global military power poses an increasing threat to American defense superiority.”
Tags: China, Cutting edge, Defense, Military power, Superiority, Threat, U.S., Weaponry
Korea Herald (June 7)
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system “reminds us of the need for self-reliant defense. President Moon should know that he is in a much weaker position” than previous presidents “because the North now has bigger rockets and nuclear bombs. Kim will demand more than his father did if he ever comes to dialogue with us thanks to the ‘Sunshine Policy’ of the new government.”
Tags: Defense, Kim, Moon, North Korea, Nuclear bombs, Rockets, South Korea, Sunshine policy, THAAD, Weaker
