Capitol Hill

Your Thursday Briefing

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« Quelqu’un que vous avez privé de tout n’est plus en votre pouvoir. Il est de nouveau entièrement libre. »
Alexandre Soljenitsyne


By Azra Isakovic

Thursday, March 04

Good morning

Welcome to Your Thursday Briefing

Books

Economic Theology –The Spirit of French Capitalism | Charly Coleman | Stanford Press

War –  War Time Temporality and the Decline of Western Military Power Edited by Sten Rynning, Olivier Schmitt, and Amelie Theussen |  Brookings Institution

Must-Reads

EU – The EU’s perverse agenda in Bosnia, Toby Vogel Bodo Weber | EUobserver
US – Twilight of the American empire Aris Roussinos | UnHerd
Bitcoin/  Chartbook Newsletter #15 | Adam Tooze
US – The January 6 Insurrection, Domestic Terrorism, and Other Threats, Statement by Christopher Wray, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation | FBI
US/China – China and the U.S. Tussle Over Southeast Asia  Economist
US/China – The U.S. and China: Avoiding Fear  Joseph Nye | Project Syndicate
UK/Asia-Pacific – UK Moves Endanger Australia’s Asia-Pacific Strategy  John Ravenhill | EA Forum US/India/Pakistan – How Will U.S.-India Ties Impact Pakistan?  Javid Husain | Dawn
Health – How to Make ‘Immunity Passports’ More Ethical, Nicole Hassoun, Anders Herlitz | Scientific American
Cryptocurrency Manufacturing – Cryptomining in Europe’s most disputed state, Alexander Clapp No. 52 | The Baffler

Research & Analysis

China/Western Balkans – Red Flags: Triaging China’s Projects in the Western Balkans, Heather A. Conley, Jonathan E. Hillman, Maesea McCalpin, Donatienne Ruy | CSIS
OSCE – Using the OSCE More Effectively: Ideas and Recommendations, Wolfgang Zellner | IFSH Hamburg
Trade – Multilateral Cooperation Behind the Trade War Headlines, Lucian Cernat and David Boucher | CEPS
Freedom/Democracy – Freedom in the World 2021: Democracy Under Siege | Freedom House
Bitcoin – Old Utopias, New Tax Havens: The Politics of Bitcoin in Historical Perspective, | Stefan Eich

Podcasts

Webinar – Early Modern Capitalism | H-France

Coronavirus – A Visual Guide to the New Coronavirus Variants

Your Thursday Briefing

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We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
Martin Luther King, Jr.


By Azra Isakovic

Jan. 21, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Thursday Briefing

Books

Samuel Beckett – The Wisdom of Surrender  Andy Wimbush, Aeon
Booksellers – Iconic Paris Bookshop Closes  Julia Webster Ayuso, The Guardian
LRB – Goodbye, Europe  Perry Anderson, London Review of Books
Postmodernism – Is Postmodernism Really Worthless?  Park MacDougald, Washington Examiner

Must-Read

US – Joe Biden’s Inauguration Speech Transcript, Washington Post
US – Donald Trump is Out. Are We Ready to Talk About How He Got In Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic 
US – What to Expect in Biden’s First 100 Days in Foreign Policy, Robbie Gramer, Amy Mackinnon, Jack Detsch, and Christina Lu, Foreign Policy   
US – Biden Wants to Unite the Country. How Can He Do It? Politico Magazine  
US – The Rebels Are Still Among Us, Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic   
Digital – 2021 Is the Year the Internet Gets Rewritten, Tyson Barker, Foreign Policy
Italy – Italy: No Political Crisis, But an Economic One, Valbona Zeleni, The Globalist
Russia – How to Contain Putin’s Russia, Michael McFaul, Foreign Affairs  
Health – Second report on progress, Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, WHO
Health – Wealthy Countries Should Share Vaccine Doses Before It Is Too Late, Lawrence O. Gostin, Eric A. Friedman, and Suerie Moon, Foreign Affairs 
US/Afghanistan – Writing Off Afghanistan: Does Biden Have a Choice? Anthony H. Cordesman, CSIS

Research & Analysis

Digital – A U.S. Grand Strategy for the Global Digital Economy, Robert D. Atkinson, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation 
US/Europe/Technology – Artificial divide: How Europe and America could clash over AI, Ulrike Esther Franke, ECFR 

   

Podcast  

What does President Biden mean for the EU-US relationship? Dan Hamilton, Global Europe Unpacked 
Essential Geopolitics: China vs. Australia  Stratfor Worldview
4 Principles to Guide U.S. Policy Toward China  ChinaFile

 


Your Monday Briefing

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Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least.

Robert Byrne


By Azra Isakovic

Jan. 18, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Monday Briefing

Books

#Livres 📚/#Recension – Open Democracy. Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century, Hélène Landemore,  Princeton University Press, | À la recherche d’une représentation démocratique par Éric Buge |  La Vie des idées
Books – Managing Transition: The First Post-Uprising Phase in Tunisia and Libya by Sabina Henneberg | Cambridge Core
Review of Books – The Limits of Caste Hazel V. Carby | London Review of Books
Review of Books  – Cynical Realism – Randall Kennedy on the biases of the Supreme Court | London Review of Books

Must-Reads

US – The Normalization of the Post-Sept. 11 Regime, by Stephen I. Vladeck | Tablet Magazine
Brexit – A look at Swiss politics shows that Euroskepticism is in the United Kingdom to stay, by Joseph de Weck | Foreign Policy
Europe/France/Germany – When Opposites Don’t Attract, by Joseph de Weck | Internationale Politik Quarterly
The Biden Transition – To Understand This Chaotic Transition, Rewind to the Last One | The New York Times
The Biden Transition – A Former Marine Stormed the Capitol as Part of a Far-Right Militia | The New Yorker
China/EU – Hungary Welcomes EU’s First Chinese University Campus | The Voice of America
Turkey – Erdogan’s great game: Turkey pushes into Africa with aid, trade and soaps |  Financial Times
Ideas – The Conservative Cult of Victimhood Trump was a perpetrator who thought himself a victim, and American society has indulged that same illusion among Trump supporters. David Frum | The Atlantic

Research & Analysis

#China🇨🇳/ The New Challenge of Communist Corporate Governance | CSIS  PDF 📥
EU/ROK – Consultations Resilience and Trust in Cyberspace | German Marshall Fund
Turkey🇹🇷 – Is Polarization Turkey’s Fate? By Emre Erdoğan @urbanhobbit | German Marshall Fund

Movies

Movies – The Movies That Mattered in 2020 by Anthony Lane | The New Yorker
Movies/Reviews – “Dear Comrades!” Is Andrei Konchalovsky’s Masterpiece, by Anthony Lane | The New Yorker

Your Thursday Briefing

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America’s present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration. – Warren G. Harding


By Azra Isakovic

Jan. 14, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Thursday Briefing

Books

Books –  La société de vigilance. Auto-surveillance, délation et haines sécuritaires, par Vanessa Codaccioni | Éditions Textuel
Books – Introduction à Antonio Gramsci by George HOARE, Nathan SPERBER | Éditions La Découverte
Books –  French Defence Policy Since the End of the Cold War, by Alice Pannier, Olivier Schmitt  | Routledge Books
Books –  Rivals in Arms: The Rise of UK-France Defence Relations in the Twenty-First Century by Alice Pannier | McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal

Must-Reads 

US – Impeachable Speech, Katherine Shaw, Emory Law Journal 
US – Institutional Integrity: Learning the Right Lessons from the Capitol Siege, Suzanne Spaulding and Devi Nair, CSIS 
US – ‘We Tried to Warn You’, Timothy McLaughlin, The Atlantic  
US/China/Technology – What the Cold War can teach Washington about Chinese tech tensions, Brendan Thomas-Noone, Brookings  
Lithuania – Vilnius at 30 – Nothing Must Be Forgotten, Paul Goble  
Estonia – Estonia’s PM resigns as corruption scandal hits ruling coalition, Richard Milne, Financial Times 
Baltics/Russia – The Sorry State of Baltic-Russian Relations, Sergei Utkin, Carnegie Moscow  
Germany – A Small Window of Opportunity, Stefanie Babst, Internationale Politik Quarterly   
Technology/Digital – Internet 3.0 and the Beginning of (Tech) History, Ben Thompson, Stratechery 
Technology – The Global AI Index, Tortoise 
Technology/US – Summary of AI Provisions from the National Defense Authorization Act 2021, Stanford University Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence 
Europe – Will Europe Part Ways with Populism in 2021? Shane Markowitz, World Politics Review 

Research & Analysis

US/Health/Global – COVID-19 exposes a changed world: A prescription for renewing U.S. global partnership, George Ingram, Brookings  
Data/Tech – Good Intentions, Bad Inventions – The Four Myths of Healthy Tech, by Amanda Lenhart & Kellie Owens | Data & Society 📥 PDF
Arctic –The U.S.-Canada Northwest Passage Disagreement: Why Agreeing to Disagree Is More Important Than Ever, Suzanne Lalonde, in Kristina Spohr and Daniel S. Hamilton, editors, Jason Moyer, associate edito

Podcasts

Idées – Sommes-nous entrés dans une société de vigilance ? par Vanessa Codaccioni et Olivia Gesbert | France Culture

Welcome to Your Wednesday Briefing

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Aucun homme n’a jamais été sage par hasard. ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca


By Azra Isakovic

Jan. 13, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Wednesday Briefing

Books

Books📚 – Une guerre perdue. La France au Sahel, par Alain Antil | Politique étrangère
Books📚 – « The Back Channel. A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal » de William J. Burns, par Laurence Nardon | Politique étrangère
Books📚 – Les maîtres de l’espionnage par Eugène Berg | Conflits

Must-Reads

Technology – CRISPR and the Slice to Survive, Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker  
Technology/EU/US – EU hopes for ‘tech alliance’ with Biden after Trump Huawei 5G ban, Giannis Seferiadis, Rhyannon Bartlett-Imadegawa, Nikkei Asia 
Turkey –Erdogan’s great game: Soldiers, spies and Turkey’s quest for power, Laura Pitel, Financial Times 
Belarus – Has Lukashenko Won? Slawomir Sierakowski, Project Syndicate
US – Yes, It Was a ‘coup.’ Here’s Why, Fiona Hill, Politico 
US – America’s Authoritarian Adversaries Seize the Moment, Jimmy Quinn, National Review 
US – The Day the internet Came for Them, Nina Jankowicz, Foreign Affairs  
US – Trump Team Makes Last-Minute Moves to Box In Biden on Foreign Policy, Robbie Gramer and Jack Detsch, Foreign Policy  
UK/Indo-Pacific – ‘Global Britain’: The UK in the Indo-Pacific, Anisa Heritage and Pak K. Lee, The Diplomat 
EU – The EU’s enlargement agenda is no longer fit for purpose, Erwan Fouéré, CEPS
How America Can Shore Up Asian Order  Kurt Campbell & Rush Doshi, Foreign Affairs
Does China Need More Russian, Central Asian Gas?  S. Kapitonov & T. Umarov, MT
Bitcoin Has Ambitions for Gold’s Role Gavyn Davies, Financial Times
EU/UK/Trade – The double irony of the new UK-EU trade relationship, André Sapir, Bruegel  
Sweden’s Journey From Model to Pandemic Pariah  C. Karlsson, Worldcrunch

  

Research & Analysis

EU/UK – The EU-UK trade and co-operation agreement: A platform on which to build? Sam Lowe | CER PDF 📥  
Germany – Merkel’s Successor: None of the Above?  Sophia Besch & Christian Odendahl, CER  
US/NAT – The Biden Transition and Reshaping U.S. Strategy: Replacing “Burden Sharing” with Meaningful Force Planning, Anthony H. Cordesman with the assistance of Grace Hwang, CSIS
Arctic – Constant and Changing Components of the Arctic Regime, Alexander N. Vylegzhanin, in Kristina Spohr and Daniel S. Hamilton, editors, Jason Moyer, associate editor

Podcasts

Opération Barkhane – La France doit-elle se retirer du Sahel ? | France Culture
États-Unis/Occupation du Capitole – Un après-guerre mal négocié ? | France Culture

 

Your Tuesday Briefing

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Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching. – Thomas Jefferson


By Azra Isakovic

Jan. 12, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Tuesday Briefing

Books

Books – Too Nice to Be President? By Tim Stanley | Literary Review
Books – ‘Visionary success’: Jonathan Alter makes the case for Jimmy Carter David Smith | The Guardian
Books – ‘Reaganland’ explores how ‘the Gipper’ changed American politics | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Must-Reads

EU/China – The EU’s Double Bind  Mark Leonard, Internationale Politik Quarterly
US – The Ingredients of a Coup Attempt  Fiona Hill, Politico
US – The American Abyss, Timothy Snyder, New York Times 
US – Present at the Destruction, Richard Haass, Foreign Affairs  
US – The US Must Now Stand Up for Democracy at Home and Abroad, Thomas Wright, The Atlantic 
US – The United States Needs a Democracy Summit at Home, James Goldgeier and Bruce W. Jentleson, Foreign Affairs   
US – American Soft Power Will Survive Donald Trump, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., National Interest 
Europe – Europe is not immune from America’s political madness, Gideon Rachman, Financial Times   
US/Western Balkans – How Biden can make a big difference in the Western Balkans, Engjellushe Morina and Vessela Tcherneva, European Council on Foreign Relations 
Europe/China/Investment – Europe’s China Gambit, Dani Rodrik, Project Syndicate   

Research & Analysis

UK/Foreign Policy – Global Britain, global broker: A blueprint for the UK’s future international role, Robin Niblett, Chatham House  
Germany/France/Defense – Future Combat Air System: Too Big to Fail, Dominic Vogel, SWP
Arctic –Freedom of the Seas in the Arctic Region, J. Ashley Roach, in Kristina Spohr and Daniel S. Hamilton, editors, Jason Moyer, associate editor

Your Monday Briefing

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It has been well said that a hungry man is more interested in four sandwiches than four freedoms.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.


By Azra Isakovic

Jan. 11, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Monday Briefing

Books

Books – The Habsburg Empire — Pieter M. Judson | Harvard University Press


Books/Review – How America Chose Supremacy, by William Anthony Hay | Law & Liberty
Books/Review – « Tomorrow, the World”, review by Paul Kennedy | The Wall Street Journal

Must-Reads

Russia – Russia’s Military in the 2020s  Pavel Luzin, Riddle
Missiles – Austin Must Overhaul Aging Missile Defense System  Michael Evans, Times
Nato – Time for NATO Members to Renew Their Vows  J. Foggo III & V. Zakem, Proceedings
China/Japan – China-Japan Fish Fight Could Turn Ugly  Neil Newman, SCMP

Global – The World After the Coronavirus – Foreign Policy, Various authors, Foreign Policy  
US – Profound Rebuilding Needed to Shore Up U.S. Democracy, Rachel Kleinfeld, Carnegie Endowment   
US –It Happened in America, Pippa Norris, Foreign Affairs
US – The Capitol Siege Is the Wake-up Call America Shouldn’t Have Needed, Larry Diamond, Foreign Affairs 
US/Democracy – America Can’t Promote Democracy Abroad. It Can’t Even Protect It at Home, Emma Ashford, Foreign Policy 
US/Sanctions – New Sanctions in the US Defence Budget, Bartosz Bieliszczuk, Mateusz Piotrowski, Polish Institute of International Relations PISM
US/Defense – Warfare’s worldwide web, The Economist 
US/Europe –Transatlantic relations: Putting it back together again, The Economist 
US/China/Energy –Why the United States should compete with China on global clean energy finance, Chuyu Liu and Johannes Urpelainen   
EU/NATO – Time for Big Picture Thinking, Barbara Kunz, Internationale Politik Quarterly
Germany/China – Riding High: Deutschland AG in China, The Economist 

Newsletter

Newsletter – Chartbook Newsletter #10  by Adam Tooze

Research & Analysis

Russia/Baltics – Russia’s Strategic Interests and Actions in the Baltic Region, Heinrich Brauß  and András Rácz, DGAP


US/China/Sanctions – Raising a Caution Flag on US Financial Sanctions against China, Jeffrey J. Schott, PIIE      
Arctic – Climate Change and the Opening of the Transpolar Sea Route: Logistics, Governance, and Wider Geo-economic, Societal and Environmental Impacts, Mia M. Bennett, Scott R. Stephenson, Kang Yang, Michael T. Bravo, and Bert De Jonghe, in Kristina Spohr and Daniel S. Hamilton, editors, Jason Moyer, associate editor

Your Friday Briefing

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Lying is an elementary means of self-defense ~ Susan Sontag


By Azra Isakovic
Jan. 8, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to your Friday briefing

Books

Books – Underground Asia – Global Revolutionaries and the Assault on Empire, by Tim Harper | Harvard University Press
Book Review – Deplorable, yourself, by Isaac William Martin | Books & Ideas
Book Review: White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg | LSE USAPP blog

Must-Reads

Capitol Hill – The Peril the U.S. Faces  International Crisis Group
Capitol Hill – Mike Davis, Riot on the Hill New Left Review
Capitol Hill – The storming of Capitol Hill was organized on social media by Sheera Frenkel | New York Times
Capitol Hill – Amid a transfer of power, Trump supporters break into Capitol – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Capitol Hill – Trump Told Crowd ‘You Will Never Take Back Our Country With Weakness’, by Maggie Haberman | New York Times
Russia – Russia’s Northern Fleet Upgraded  Roger McDermott, Jamestown
EU – With UK Gone, Smaller Nations Fight EU Integration  William Nattrass, CapX
Biden – What’s Next for Foreign Aid Under Biden?  Kristen Cordell, Council on Foreign Relations
Israel/Iran – Is This the Year Israel and Iran Go to War?  Seth Frantzman, 1945
France – France a Post-Imperial Power Seeking a Role  Philip Stephens, Financial Times
Russia – Russia’s Northern Fleet Upgraded to military District Status, Roger McDermott, The Jamestown 
EU/Russia – The EU in Action: Russia, Sarah Pagung, Internationale Politik Quarterly  
EU/Middle East/North Africa –The EU in Action: The Middle East and North Africa, Florence Gaub, Internationale Politik Quarterly 
EU/Turkey – The EU in Action: Turkey, Günter Seufert, Internationale Politik Quarterly 

Research & Analysis

US/China/Russia – The Biden Transition and U.S. Competition with China and Russia: The Crisis-Driven Need to Change U.S. Strategy, Anthony H. Cordesman with the assistance of Grace Hwang, CSIS
Arctic/Nuclear – Strategic Stability and Competition in the Arctic, Rebecca Hersman, Eric Brewer, and Maxwell Simon, CSIS
China/Central and Eastern Europe – Huawei in Central and Eastern Europe: Trends and Forecast, Ivana Karásková, ed., Association for International Affairs Prague
Arctic – Climate Change and the Opening of the Transpolar Sea Route: Logistics, Governance, and Wider Geo-economic, Societal and Environmental Impacts, Kristina Spohr and Daniel S. Hamilton, editors, Jason Moyer, associate editor 

Podcasts

Capitol Hill – Après l’assaut du Capitole, Donald Trump accepte enfin de quitter la Maison Blanche | France Culture