Recent Posts

Putin’s Fear of Retreat

How the Cuban Missile Crisis Haunts the Kremlin Sixty years ago, the White House and the Kremlin peacefully resolved the most dangerous nuclear crisis of the modern era. Neither superpower had wanted the dispute over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba to end in war, but both sides threatened …

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Russia’s Road to Economic Ruin

The Long-Term Costs of the Ukraine War Will Be Staggering After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the Russian economy seemed destined for a nosedive. International sanctions threatened to strangle the economy, leading to a plunge in the value of the ruble and Russian financial markets. Everyday Russians appeared poised …

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The Return of Red China

Xi Jinping Brings Back Marxism In 1978, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping announced that his country would make a break with the past. After decades of political purges, economic autarky, and suffocating social control under Mao Zedong, Deng began stabilizing Chinese politics, removing bans on private enterprise and foreign investment and …

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