In This Story
From CNN:
A Cautionary Tale About the Original Martyr of White Working-Class Americans
As a candidate for sheriff of Mahoning County, during the five-year period when Youngstown lost some 50,000 jobs, Traficant accepted $163,000 in payoffs from Mahoning County’s Cleveland mob faction and its Pittsburgh rival. Even after a federal tax court found him guilty of income tax evasion in 1984 for the bribes and for owing another $108,000 in back taxes and penalties, Traficant was elected to Congress.
—Justin Gest
From the Atlantic Council:
Wagner forces in these areas have many incentives to be uncooperative.
—Mark N. Katz
From the Diplomat:
The Philippines Is Leveraging Its Strategic Value to Become an Indo-Pacific Power
Unlike the past, this is not a transaction for foreign aid. Rather, the Philippines seeks to become a strong, equal partner to uphold the rules-based order and defend its own interests in the Indo-Pacific.
—MA in International Security Alum Gavril Torrijos
From 19FortyFive:
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and America Security
The TPNW might be almost laughably far from achieving its aim of a world free of nuclear weapons, but the disarmament views it represents still pose real risks for the United States. Disarmament sentiment may constrain American options in responding to Chinese nuclear expansion, while also serving as a wedge issue to divide NATO.
—Zak Kallenborn
From the Bulwark:
Trump’s Document Stash Put American Lives at Risk
The sensitivity of these documents was so great that prosecutors were obliged to redact even the codewords on the documents.
—Larry Pfeiffer
The Messenger:
No Escape for 2024: Far-Right Committed to Returning to Power
Even if Republicans end up nominating someone else, the campaign is still likely to be all about Trump.
—Bill Schneider
From RealClearPolicy:
To Heal Our Divided Country, Drive 50 Miles in Any Direction. Then Schmooze.
So, driving out of or into the nearest major metropolitan area will place you into contact with people different from you, and our research has found that this is where progress is made.
—Justin Gest
From Newsweek:
Putin Only Has Himself to Blame for the Wagner Mess
The very fact that this rivalry between Prigozhin and the Russian Defense Ministry leadership was allowed to occur and get worse for months, though, is Putin's own fault. Instead of putting a stop to it, Putin may have thought that he could both control it and benefit from it. If so, this was a mistake.
—Mark N. Katz
From the Ripon Forum:
How AI Is Reshaping Transportation
But ChatGPT’s essay would certainly have passed muster as an undergraduate—or even graduate student—essay on the topic. ChatGPT is right—AI has emerged as a transformative force in transportation. It will affect both how we use transportation—the demand side—and how we supply transportation facilities and services.
—Jonathan Gifford
From the Washington Post:
How to Take Congress Away From the Crazies
If moderates and pragmatists of both parties want to marginalize the extremes once and for all—if they are really serious about governing and bipartisan compromise—then they need to set aside the partisan norms by which the House has always operated, and give the speaker a different way of doing business.
—Steven Pearlstein
From American City & County:
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)—Project or Program?
Given the ever-evolving technology landscape, ERP is destined to grow in frequency and scope. One CIO, having gone through two in his career noted, ERP, if not planned correctly, will surely stand for “enhanced retirement planning!”
—Alan R. Shark
The Progressive Magazine:
In the Global Struggle with Populism, Elections Are a Salve
But we should also not expect broken-system sentiment to disappear. So long as populist parties and leaders are operating, they will persuade a share of voters that the system is rigged against them, even when there is ample evidence to the contrary—a sort of feedback loop.
—Justin Gest, et al.
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Will Primaries Weaken or Strengthen Democrats?
But those benefits have to be weighed against this year’s extraordinary number of imperiled incumbents who, over years or decades, amass loyal constituents who tend to vote in the fall—appeal not easily transferred to a new nominee.
—Mark J. Rozell
From Homeland Security Today:
With Porous Borders and Endemic Corruption, Can Syria Mitigate the Captagon Threat?
According to the United Kingdom government, 80 percent of the world’s captagon is produced in Syria, and it is a financial lifeline for al-Assad’s regime, worth approximately three times the combined trade of the Mexican cartels. The regime generates U.S. $5.7 billion in revenue from drug shipments. Today drug trafficking is the country’s most important foreign currency source.
—Mahmut Cengiz
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Youngkin Should Stop the Tease—and Run
This is neither to endorse a Youngkin candidacy nor to criticize it. But if that’s his calling, he should follow it before the launch window closes for a credible campaign within a growing GOP field now dominated by former President Donald Trump.
—Mark J. Rozell
From the Hill:
Ron DeSantis’s Underrated Assets, and His Achilles Heel
His first main asset, paradoxically, is his low rating in current polls. Sharply reduced poll ratings at the outset of his campaign give him the advantage of low expectations. If his polls go up through effective campaigning, fueled by ample campaign funds, this could set in motion an upward trend and lavish media exposure.
—Frank Manheim
From VOXeu (Centre for Economic Policy Research):
The Economic Consequences of War
Ukrainians are making huge sacrifices not only to survive and defend their own democracy, but to defend liberal democracy everywhere. It will be a tragedy of historic proportions if once again, local knowledge is largely eschewed, assistance fails to be strategic, privatization swamped in insider schemes is sanctioned, or insular, self-seeking networks are allowed to team up with oligarchic interests to design systems that run roughshod over the futures of regular people. Indeed, Ukrainian reconstruction will be a bellwether of the ability of liberal democracy to prevail.
—Janine Wedel
From RUSI:
Hizbullah and Russia’s Nascent Alliance
Over the last few years, Russia has quietly extended its reach into Lebanon, seeking to cultivate cultural, economic and military ties in Beirut as part of a strategy to expand Russian influence in the Middle East, while side-lining the US and elevating Moscow’s role as a peacemaker.
—Aurora Ortega, et al.