In the early months of his second term, U.S. President Donald Trump has wasted no time asserting his combative “America First” vision of international politics – one that discards alliances, dismantles institutions, and replaces diplomacy with coercion. A good representation of this shift is the near-total dismantling of the U.S.Continue Reading
China’s recent live-fire naval exercises in the Tasman Sea have alerted Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Island states of Beijing’s growing military power and its ability to deploy military force outside of the South China Sea. This projection of hard power has been augmented by a series of China-PacificContinue Reading
The fate of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’ primary vehicle for delivering foreign assistance worldwide, has hung in the balance since Donald Trump’s inauguration. The turmoil started with an executive order on Inauguration Day suspending U.S. foreign assistance for 90 days. USAID began laying off contractContinue Reading
One of the executive orders U.S. President Donald Trump signed the day he was inaugurated was a 90-day pause in U.S. foreign development assistance. The U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, was ordered to halt funding. Programs worldwide were issued with stop-work orders. All of a sudden, more than $60Continue Reading
