"We thought this would be a president who might be neoisolationist, who might be inclined toward restraint," Council President and CEO Leslie Vinjamuri says. "That is just not what we're seeing now. "
Council Nonresident Senior Fellow Paul Poast reflects on the Trump administration's recent operation in Venezuela and what it reveals about the president's approach to foreign policy.
"The person that is probably benefiting the most right now is Vladimir Putin," Nonresident Senior Fellow Bruce Jentleson says. "'What's yours in mine' is what he said to Ukraine."
"This administration wants to enlist its friends to help secure its dominance in the Western Hemisphere," Leslie Vinjamuri says. "It's also willing to push the boundaries of what we have come to see as normal, expected, legitimate, international behavior in order to secure that dominance."
"When combined with economic desperation, political exhaustion appears to be pushing parts of society toward alternative visions of order and stability," Council Nonresident Senior Fellow Saeid Golkar writes with Jason M. Brodsky.
"Beijing’s efforts to strike a nationalist chord among Chinese citizens regarding Taiwanese unification might not be easily transmitted," the Council's Dina Smeltz and Craig Kafura write.
"In the 20th century, nationalism was the driving force behind the two world wars that destroyed Europe," Distinguished Fellow Richard Longworth writes. "Now Trump wants to return it to its prewar domination of European politics."
The use of social media to incite violence in global conflicts and influence foreign elections pushed social platforms to take safety and integrity more seriously. AI companies should take note, Nonresident Senior Fellow Suzanne Nossel and Paolo Carozza write.
"The National Security Strategy would suggest [Trump's] not about to come to the primary defense of Ukraine, that he thinks this is clearly Europe's role and Ukraine's role, and there needs to be compromise," Council President and CEO Leslie Vinjamuri says.
