Intern Corner September 15, 2026 Words Without Money: China as the Ambivalent UN Power By: Jackson Owen Over the past year, China has been quietly shifting its stance within the international system. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is casting itself as an unlikely guardian of the post–World War II international order, uncomfortable with the rhetorical... Read more	Intern Corner August 13, 2026 Inside China’s Cognitive Warfare Playbook Against Taiwan By: Bram Wells China has been increasing pressure on Taiwan below the threshold of a traditional military attack throughout the past decade. These gray zone tactics include diplomatic, economic, and security measures as well as the deployment of ships and aircraft across... Read more	Podcasts August 6, 2026 Diaspora and Migration in the Latvian Context In this episode of Baltic Ways, recorded on the sidelines of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) conference at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, host Indra Ekmanis speaks with Inta Mieriņa, a political sociologist and... Read more
Analysis August 5, 2026 Can the US and Europe Cooperate in Africa? By: Charles A. Ray Africa’s global role is constantly evolving. Demographically, Africa is poised to occupy a dominant position in the world over the coming decades. By 2050, Africa’s share of the global population will have grown from its current 19 percent to... Read more	Analysis July 29, 2026 How France’s Fall Signals China’s Rise in the Sahel By: Raghvendra Kumar In a disturbing, though predictable, move, Burkina Faso severed diplomatic relations with France on June 26, 2026, accusing its former colonial ruler of pursuing “neo-colonial ambitions,” and maintaining “subversive networks,” and even supporting terrorist groups against the Burkinabè state.... Read more	Analysis July 29, 2026 A Crown Jewel in Peril: Russia’s Arctic Aggression Masks Nuclear Vulnerability By: Carl Parkin Russia sees opportunity in the Arctic. For centuries, ever-present sea ice has made the region hostile to trade or military exploitation. But as the ice melts, that reality is changing. Russia plans to capitalize on the economic benefit of... Read more
Expert Commentary July 27, 2026 Indo-Pacific Recalibration, Not Retaliation, Against US Tariffs By: Shihoko Goto The latest round of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration was hardly unexpected, but that does not make them any less unsettling for some of America’s staunchest allies in the Indo-Pacific. With even more tariffs expected to be introduced by... Read more	Analysis July 24, 2026 Losing the Ambiguity, Missing the Strategy: US Policy Towards Taiwan in Flux By: Jacques deLisle A series of high-level meetings between leaders and visits by prominent politicians from the United States, China, and Taiwan has roiled chronically fraught issues of Taiwan policy and cross-Strait relations. The May summit between President Donald Trump and Xi... Read more	FPRI News July 23, 2026 FPRI Launches New Initiative for Deterrence and Arms Control Led by Jeffrey Lewis The Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) today announced the launch of the Initiative for Deterrence and Arms Control, led by Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, a Distinguished Research Fellow at FPRI, and staffed by a team of open-source researchers who have... Read more