NASA Earth Observatory, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Taylor Bishop Recent discussion surrounding the proposed $50 billion Alaska LNG project highlighted differing public statements from South Korean officials, the Trump Administration, and project stakeholders regarding the status of negotiations. According to President Trump, Seoul agreed to the aforementioned deal and even announced it in... Continue Reading →
Margo Martin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Taylor Bishop On September 24, 2026, President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met for the next round of high-level talks amid rising tensions between the two powers, this time in Washington, D.C. In the months and weeks leading up to the event, scholars and policy... Continue Reading →
Dan Lundberg, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Madelynn Linet For decades, Russia has remained one of Central Asia’s largest suppliers of oil and petroleum products. However, recent disruptions to Russia’s oil-refining industry and the introduction of restrictions on fuel exports have exposed the risks of high dependence on Russian energy supplies. Russian... Continue Reading →
By Katie Braman Through the weekend of September 18-19, the fall 2026 Patterson School cohort participated in the International Strategic Crisis Negotiation Exercise (ISCNE) presented by the U.S. Army War College. The exercise provides a unique opportunity for students to participate in two days of fast-paced negotiation rounds guided by the privileged instructions provided to... Continue Reading →
President Yamandu Orsi Intendencia de Montevideo, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Jack Kolesar In January 2026, Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi embarked on one of Montevideo's most ambitious diplomatic missions in decades. Orsi led a delegation of 150 to the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai with aims of expanding trade, investment, and... Continue Reading →
By Sam Dantzler Last week’s Trump-Xi meeting in South Koreas was one of those diplomatic moments where the vibes and the substance didn’t totally match, but both administrations pretended they did. Both sides seemed to have a positive response and agreed that relations were headed in a more “stable” direction. Compared to the icy standoff... Continue Reading →
By Sam Dantzler On September 3, 2025, Beijing staged its largest military parade in years to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. President Xi Jinping presided over the event in Tiananmen Square, flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. The imagery was unmistakable: a carefully choreographed alignment of leaders who... Continue Reading →
By Lexi Dean China continues to assert control over the South China Sea where around one-third ofglobal shipping occurs. Amidst growing Chinese aggression in regional countries’exclusive economic zones, Indo-Pacific countries continue to step up efforts to combatthis. This past week, Taiwan’s coast guard detained a Chinese-linked ship after itstopped near an undersea communication cable that... Continue Reading →
By Lauren Ho Amidst the Philippine’s continued political unrest, concerns of a Chinese spy-ring are now plaguing the nation. On January 20, 2025 a Chinese national, Deng Yuanqing, was arrested by Philippine law enforcement under suspicion of spying on multiple Filipino military facilities. Deng was found to be a member of a spy ring that... Continue Reading →
By Lexi Dean The proliferation of scam operations and illegal cyber-ploys across Southeast Asia gave rise to a wave of concern back in 2023. This concern led to crackdowns on these operations, which have continued this week, as Thailand received over 250 victims of human trafficking from a Myanma militia who freed workers from scam... Continue Reading →
