By Bella Butler On September 15th, 2026, Charles Booker, Democratic nominee vying for retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell’s seat, held a town hall and rally at the University of Kentucky’s Worsham Cinema hosted by UK College Democrats and the Fayette County Democratic Party. Concluding this event, Booker asked, “Do you believe Kentucky is worth fighting for?”... Continue Reading →
Serious Dialogue or Continued Discussions: The Results of the Recent Trump-Xi Meeting
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 →
ISCNE Negotiation Simulation 2026: The South China Sea
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 →
Chile’s Kast Seeks to Tighten Northern Borders
U.S. Department of State, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Jack Kolesar In the wake of his 2026 inauguration, Chile’s new head of state, President José Antonio Kast, has moved forward on a central pledge of his presidential campaign. Kast’s “Border Shield,” a network of border security infrastructure, is now under construction. This initiative seeks... Continue Reading →
Venezuela: Life After the Removal of Maduro
Eneas De Troya, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Jack Kolesar Venezuela is currently in a prolonged state of profound uncertainty amid a series of events and crises over the past several years. Over a decade of economic collapse, hyperinflation, and chronic shortages have left its people struggling to meet basic needs. Currently,... Continue Reading →
US and Israel Strike Iran: What We Know and What it Could Mean for the Future
Khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Mia Durham On February 28th, the United States and Israel conducted coordinated airstrikes on Iran. President Trump claimed that the goals of the operation were to encourage the removal of the authoritarian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei regime, to remove all of Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities, and... Continue Reading →
Quiet Death, Loud Implications: US Sinks Iranian Ship Off Coast of Sri Lanka
Mehr News Agency, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Noah Eubanks On March 4, a U.S. attack boat torpedoed and sank Tehran’s 1,500‑ton Moudge‑class frigate IRIS Dena about 40 nautical miles off Sri Lanka’s southern coast, killing 84 Iranian sailors and injuring 32, with many more missing. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called it... Continue Reading →
Despite Tensions Regarding the Canal, U.S. and Panama Work to Expand Deportation Efforts
By Cora Kirby The Trump administration is continuing its deportation efforts and sent undocumented immigrants to Panama this week. A military plane left California on Wednesday night with more than 100 migrants from countries including Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. This development comes after a recent meeting in Panama between President José Raúl Mulino of... Continue Reading →
Kazakhstan Reacts to Trump-era Policy Changes
By John W. Parks The first few weeks of President Trump’s second term have produced substantial changes to the foreign policy of the United States. Tariffs imposed on the US’s largest trading partners and the drastic cutting of funds for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have begun to build an American future... Continue Reading →
South Africa’s Land Expropriation Law: Reform or Risk
By Madelyn Williams Last month the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, signed the Land Expropriation Law. This has caused a firestorm of controversy in South Africa and abroad as some expect that it will be used to remove white farmers from their land. The law provides guidelines about how land expropriation may be implemented and... Continue Reading →
