American leadership in the 21st century.
According to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the US is the “indispensable nation”. The benign equilibrium after the Cold War would, however, be interrupted by major escalations in inter and intra-state violence, stateless individual acts of terrorism, trends in global markets against manufacturing, China’s evolving attitude towards its world order, and, perhaps most crucially, the decreasing willingness and capacity from the US to play a role.
Nonetheless, the US still possesses an unrivalled military and large economy; it maintains alliances — although not unquestionably; it sets agenda, and attempts to promote universal values of free markets, human rights, and…
Those who haven’t carved out their niche will get more desperate.
Nearly two years ago, I wrote about how ridiculous the Democrats looked on the primary debate stage. At the time, there must have been nearly twenty candidates still in the race. It became a running jokes on Dem-supporting media that no one could name them all, even after they’d spent three hours watching them on T.V. the night before.
I wrote:
“Having several candidates of the same party kicking lumps out of each other, airing the party’s dirty laundry on national TV just months before a general election — what could be better? …
The blinding power of winning creates a paradox whereby it is the ultimate goal, while also contributing to future defeats. Winning can become blinding when it is assumed there are no lessons to learn from the loser. If the loser knew what they were doing, they’d have won. Right?
Most high performing people understand this isn’t true and freely cite their failures are being more formative than their successes. As part of a Nike campaign, Michael Jordan famously claimed he’s missed 9000 shots in his career, Muhammad Ali used to be robbed as a child so he learnt to fight…
No one wears the same boots.
Two dislocated knee-caps, several concussions, some broken bones, and a torn ear later, my twelve year amateur rugby playing days were over. An admirable inning, I thought. But, after all that physical damage, I was done.
Further justification came when I considered how much free time I’d now have. Several nights a week taken up by training and then entire weekends consumed by travel, playing, and socialising. …
Trump is unique for two interlinked reasons. Firstly, his raw communication ability. Whether it (was) through his Twitter feed or call ins to Fox and Friends, or whether it was through buying advert space implicitly calling for the death penalty for the Central Park 5, he connected to a group of people, who, often by their own admission, had sat on the side lines of politics for decades. In a recent article for the Times newspaper, Joe Scarborough sums it up, simply saying “It’s so hard to match the Donald”. If you believe Michael Cohen (and several others), though, this…
This is more than simply cleaning up Trump’s mess.
It looks like President-elect Joe Biden will appoint Michele Flournoy as his Secretary of Defence. This would be the first time a female has been appointed to the role, so could indicate a broader commitment to diversity and inclusion in his first Cabinet. But hopefully it is more than symbolism. Biden could lead a seismic shift in the way the United States handles its security.
As is often the case when seeking to move on from Trump, it has to be understood that he is a symptom of a changing world “as much as an accelerant”. The opportunity a new…
Deep in the 9/11 Commission’s report is a dire warning. An ineffective transition of power weakens the United States.
There are two concurrent crisis occurring. Firstly, the obstructionist behaviour of the outgoing Trump administration and its consequent failure to work towards a peaceful, effective transition of power. Secondly, the inability of all sane-minded peoples to convey just how dangerous this is.
Trump’s years have been characterised by ally-bashing, dictator-worshiping, and almost weekly warnings from long-serving national security personnel about the risks this President poses. This message has simply not resonated. Over seventy-million people voted again for this man, many of whom I suspect are exhausted — exhausted of being reduced to racists and xenophobes, allegations they simply fail to…
“When the fall is all there is, it matters.”
Bush vs Gore 2000 is too esoteric to simplify, but that hasn’t stopped the MAGA train from trying. The problem is, even for a legal layman it is clear the comparison doesn’t work.
Since Joe Biden was declared the President elect, several Trump supporting Twitter users have sought to push the hashtag #BushGore. Citing the 2000 presidential election in which Al Gore was declared the President elect for thirty seven days before the Supreme Court ruled in Bush’s favour thus making him President instead. …
Biden should listen to the victims of Trumpism, not its perpetrators.
When Trump won in 2016, Democrats were expected to enter a four year mea culpa with his supporters. Everytime we turned on the news there appeared some disgruntled Trump voter and his buddies in a rural diner talking about the latest disguised synonym as to why they didn’t like their African American President or that, maybe they could vote for a woman, but not for Hillary, there’s just something about her. This was nothing more than economic anxiety, though. We were told it could only be calmed with a deeper, more empathetic understanding. …
Polls, demographics, election results. It did not go as planned.
First of all, congratulations to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and their team. It looks like, at the moment of writing, he is on course to become President elect to the United States. That was objective number one, and they should achieve that. For nearly a year they have faced pressure to push and pull in every direction, moving resources from state to state at the behest of the latest questionable poll. To stay their course on a path they believed would be successful takes discipline. Replacing Donald Trump with Joe Biden is, in itself, a massive achievement.
I would extend…
George Evans-Jones
Writing mostly on US politics from across the pond. Occasionally detour into sports/sport performance, and UK politics/culture.
