Your Tuesday Briefing

Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth.
June Jordan


By Azra Isakovic

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Tuesday Briefing

Featured

Droits de l’homme –Pourquoi se souvenir de Srebrenica ? Florence Hartmann | Revue Esprit

Books

Russie – Un nouvel équilibre des pouvoirs: la Russie à la recherche d’un équilibre en matière de politique étrangère, Dmitri Trenin | Carnegie Russia
Review –Basic Urban Services in India: a Paradoxical Bricolage, by Hugo Ribadeau Dumas | Books & Ideas
Review – The Neglected Rights of the Disabled, by David Le Breton | Books & Ideas

Must-Reads

Europe/Asia-Pacific – Could Europe’s reemergence in Asia be a win-win this time? Richard Javad Heydarian, The National
US – Biden’s infrastructure plan replaces federal cynicism with a sweeping vision, Adie Tomer, Brookings
Ukraine – Conflict in Donbas: What Does Ukraine Stand to Gain? Sarah Lain, CEPA
Ukraine/Russia/US – On Ukraine’s doorstep, Russia boosts military and sends message of regional clout to Biden, Isabelle Khurshudyan, David L. Stern, Loveday Morris and John Hudson | The Washington Post
EU/Asia – Europe’s Re-Emergence in Asia: A Win-Win?  Richard Javad Heydarian | National
Germany – Söder Shakes Up German Succession  Guy Chazan | Financial Times
UK –
England Prepares to Get Drunk  Cristina Gallardo | Politico EU
US/China – Side That Heals Itself First Will Win US-China Cold War  Huang Jing | Nikkei
US/Health – What America’s Vaccination Campaign Proves to the World, Anne Applebaum | The Atlantic
Afrique – ONU et mercenaires russes en Centrafrique : le pacte du silence ? | Centre Afrique subsaharienne

Research & Analysis

US/Central and Eastern Europe – 100 Days of Biden’s New Transatlantic Strategy – Where Does Central and Eastern Europe Stand? Danielle Piatkiweicz | Europeum
EU/China/Technology – Technological Competition: Can the EU Compete with China? Francesca Ghiretti | IAI
Digital – Internet from Space: How New Satellite Connections Could Affect Global Internet Governance, Daniel Voelsen | SWP

Podcasts

China’s Maritime Militia – Trouble in the South China Sea Ankit Panda | The Diplomat

Turquie – L’Europe se montre-t-elle trop faible face à la Turquie d’Erdoğan? Ariane Bonzon, Christophe Carron, Jean-Marie Colombani, Alain Frachon | SlatefrPodcasts

Your Friday Briefing

God cannot alter the past, though historians can.
Samuel Butler


By Azra Isakovic

Friday April 2, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Friday Briefing

Featured

Biosecurity – WHO’s “exciting adventure” to find the origins of COVID-19 runs into trouble, Thomas Gaulkin, Matthew Field | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Books

The BiographyPHILIP ROTH, Blake Bailey, by Cynthia Ozick | The New York Times
À propos de – “Liberalism, Diversity and Domination, Kant, Mill and the Government of Difference”, Inder S. Marwah | Cambridge University Press

Must-Reads

EU/China – Watching China in Europe – April 2021, Noah Barkin | German Marshall Fund
China – Is It Too Late to Challenge China’s Belt and Road?  Howard French | WP Review
Russia – An Opportunity for Russia’s Northern Sea Route?  Sergey Sukhankin | Jamestown
China – The New China Shock  Mark Leonard | Project Syndicate
Digital/Finance – Who Needs a Digital Dollar?  Barry Eichengreen | Japan Times
US/Russia/Arctics – U.S.-Russian Arctic Relations: A Change in Climate? Heather A. Conley and Colin Wall | CSIS
Suez – The Next Suez Threat? a Big Hack  Victoria Coates & Robert Greenway | Bloomberg
Russia – Russia’s Extraterritorial Military Deployments  Jeff Hawn | Newlines
Russia – Cyber Deterrence Matters  Erica Borghard | Russia Matters
Ukraine – Russian Troop Movements on Ukraine Border Test Biden Administration, Thomas Grove and Alan Cullison | Wall Street Journal
Europe/Populism – Orban plots new populist alliance for European parliament, Valerie Hopkins, James Shotter, Davide Ghiglione | FT

Research & Analysis

EU/Digital/Trade – EU Digital Policy and International Trade, Rachel F. Fefer | Congressional Research Service
Trade –2021 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers | United States Trade Representative
EU/Digital – Europe’s Quest for Digital Sovereignty: GAIA-X as a Case Study, Simona Autolitano and Agnieszka Pawlowska | IAI


Podcasts

Europe – Scandinavie : des socio-démocrates nouvelle génération Florian Delorme | France Culture

Your Monday Briefing

“The main thing is to make history, not to write it.”
Otto Von Bismarck


By Azra Isakovic

Monday, March 29

Good morning

Welcome to Your Monday Briefing

Featured

Misinformation – How to Stop Misinformation Before It Gets Shared, by Renee DiResta | Wired

Books

Ideas – Conservatism: A View from Sweden  | University Bookman
Biography – Making of a Cold War President  Jason K. Duncan | University Bookman
Review – “The World Turned Upside Down”, by Branko Milanović | Brave New Europe

Must-Reads

Big Tech – The mess at Medium, Casey Newton | The Verge
Autocracy – Why the International Order Is Tilting to Autocracy  A. Cooley & D. Nexon | For. Aff.
UK – Is the United Kingdom Still a Nation?  Henry Hill | Spectator
Suez – In Suez Canal, a Warning About Excessive Globalization  Peter Goodman | NYT
Suez – With Suez Canal Blocked, Shippers Begin End Run Around a Trade Artery Peter S. Goodman & Stanley Reed | New York Times  
China – « La Chine devient plus que jamais une puissance clivante » Alice Ekman  | Le Monde
China/Iran – China, With $400 Billion Iran Deal, Could Deepen Influence in Mideast by Farnaz Fassihi et Steven Lee Myers | New York Times
US –How the United States’ legal community became global oligarchs’ most useful enablers, Alexander Cooley & Casey Michel | Foreign Policy
Pandémie – Avec la pandémie, l’Occident perd du terrain face aux régimes autoritaires chinois et russe, Cyrille Bret, Florent Parmentier | Slate.fr

Research & Analysis

History –Austerity and the Rise of the Nazi Party | Cambridge University Press
History –Testing Marx. Income Inequality, Concentration, and Socialism in Late 19th Century Germany | Center for Open Science @OSFramework
EU/Economy – The Corona Debt Conundrum in the Eurozone, Paweł Tokarski and Alexander Wiedmann  |  SWP

Podcasts

Revue de presse internationaleQuelles leçons tirer des embouteillages au canal de Suez ?  Camille Magnard | France Culture

Libya – Can Libya’s New Unity Government Transcend the Divides? | SWP

Your Friday Briefing

“You can do everything with bayonets, but you are not able to sit on them”
Otto Von Bismarck


By Azra Isakovic

Friday, March 26

Good morning

Welcome to Your Friday Briefing

Featured

Rousseau on Inequality – How Rousseau Predicted Trump, Pankaj Mishra | The New Yorker
Rousseau on InequalityDiscourse on Inequality, 1755 | AUB

Books

Freedom – Freedom – An Unruly History, Annelien de Dijn | Harvard University Press
Review – The Untold History of Freedom Tyler Stovall | The Nation
Review – Aboutness: On Hieronymus Bosch  T.J. Clark, London Review of Books
À propos de : Une histoire universelle des ruines. Des origines aux Lumières, Alain Schnapp | Seuil, par Géraldine Sfez | La Vie des idées

Must-Reads

EU/Vaccine – EU vaccine schism overshadows Biden’s summit cameo, Mehreen Khan and David Hindley | Financial Times
Turkey/Greece/EU/NATO – Where to Draw the Line in the Eastern Mediterranean, Michaël Tanchum, Foreign Policy
Nuclear Notebook – How many nuclear weapons does Russia have in 2021? By Hans M. Kristensen, Matt Korda | Bulletin of the Atomic
Japan/Taiwan/China –  What Can Japan Do in a Taiwan-China Clash?  Michael MacArthur Bosack, JT
US/China – There Will Not Be a New Cold War  Thomas Christensen | Foreign Affairs
China/Hong Kong – Hong Kong Is Just a Starting Point for China  Weifeng Zhong | The Dispatch
Nord Stream 2 – Maybe Washington Should Let Nord Stream 2 Go  Daniel DePetris | RCWorld
Myanmar – Don’t Ignore Myanmar  Benedict Rogers | Persuasion
EU/China – Europe’s Tightrope Diplomacy on China, Philippe Le Corre | Carnegie
China – What Beijing’s Capitol Riot Schadenfreude Reveals  J. Eisenman & H. Grizzell | FP
China – China’s Coming Demographic Collapse  Gordon Chang | National Interest
South Korea – Ambiguity Weakens South Korea  Shim Jae-yun | Korea Times
Health/Serbia/Western Balkans – Serbia’s Vaccine Influence in the Balkans, Heather A. Conley and Dejana Saric | CSIS

Research & Analysis

Economy – Fiscal and Exchange Rate Policies Drive Trade Imbalances, Joseph E. Gagnon and Madi Sarsenbayev | PIIE
US/Digital – Posture Statement of General Paul M. Nakasone, Commander, U.S. Cyber Command, Before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee
Digital – Testimony of Mark Zuckerberg, Before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittees on Consumer Protection & Commerce and Communications & Technology
Economy – L’automobile, talon d’Achille de l’industrie allemande ? Marie Krpata | IFRI

Podcasts

Bertrand Tavernier : « Je fais un cinéma de partage » | France Culture
Bertrand Tavernier : Lyon, le cinéma et ses artistes | Archive INA

Talking Politics – Rousseau on Inequality | Acast

Your Wednesday Briefing

We’re still in the first minutes of the first day of the Internet revolution.  Scott Cook


By Azra Isakovic

Wednesday, March 24

Good morning

Welcome to Your Wednesday Briefing

Featured

Bernie Sanders –An Unusually Optimistic Conversation With Bernie Sanders, Ezra Kleinwith | New York Times Opinion
Analog/Digital –Why Analog Is Better than Digital II , by Francis Fukuyama | American Purpose

Books

Enlightenment The Enlightenment – The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790, Ritchie Robertson | Harper Collins
Review –“The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of happiness, 1680-1790”, Ritchie Robertson | Voltaire Foundation
About : Unsustainable Inequalities. Social Justice and the Environment, by Matthew Soener | Books & Ideas

Must-Reads

Pandemic –Pandemic Theater, The Anniversary Edition | Zeynep
US/EU – The US and the EU: Time for a New “Transatlantic Moment”? Claudia Schmucker and Stormy-Annika Mildner | DGAP
US/Russia –  Why Russia Is the Problem From Hell  Robert Kaplan | National Interest
Russia/China – What Does China’s Latest 5-Year Plan Mean for Russia?  Vita Spivak | Carn. Mos.
NATO –Secretary Blinken’s Moderated Conversation with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg | United States Department of State
NATO – Enlarging NATO’s Toolbox to Counter Hybrid Threats, Michael Rühle and Clare Roberts | NATO
Russia/Ukraine – Russia and Ukraine Are Not About to Come to Blows  Ekaterina Zolotova | GPF
China/BRI – China’s Belt and Road: Implications for the U.S.  J. Hillman & D. Sacks | CFR
India – India Romances the West  C. Raja Mohan | Foreign Policy
UK – Where Do Boris Johnson’s Nuclear Ambitions Lead?  Gavin Esler | The National
Biden Transition – Biden Wants No Part of the Culture War the G.O.P. Loves, by Thomas Edsall | New York Times Opinion

Research & Analysis

UK –Integrated Review of Security 2021 | Commons Library
UK –Global Britain in a Competitive Age: the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy | GOV.UK
NATO –NATO in in the Era of Unpeace: Defending Against Known Unknowns, Dominik P. Jankowski and Tomasz Stępniewski, eds. | Institute of Central Europe IEŚ

Podcasts

EU/Russia – Europe–Russia Relations Today, with Kadri Liik and Dmitri Trenin | Sound Cloud

Your Thursday Briefing

“Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.” Otto Von Bismarck


By Azra Isakovic

Thursday, March 18

Good morning

Welcome to Your Thursday Briefing

Books

Recension – « L’héritage des Lumières » par Blaise Bachofen | La Vie des idées
EssaysPaul Valéry and the Mechanisms of Modern Tyranny, Nathaniel Rudavsky-Brody | The Hedgehog Review
Review –‘Talking to Strangers’ of Paul Auster’s by Zachary Houle

Must-Reads

Health/Security – Pathogens Have the World’s Attention: The United States Should Lead a New Push Against Bioweapons, Nathan Levine and Chris Li | Foreign Affairs
Post-pandemic recovery – Sequencing the Post-COVID Recovery | Robert Skidelsky
China/Taiwan – Will Taiwan’s Dongsha Islands Be the Next Crimea? by Shahn Savino | World Politics Review
ChinaChina’s Strategic Standpoint, by George Friedman | Geopolitical Futures
US/Russia – Another Reason for Biden to Rethink Putin Strategy  F. Kempe, Atlantic Council
EU/Digital/Finance – The European Union, Cybersecurity, and the Financial Sector, Philipp S. Krüger and Jan-Philipp Brauchle | Carnegie
Ukraine/Russia – Merge and Rule: What’s In Store for the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics, Konstantin Skorkin | Carnegie Moscow Center
Deterrence – A Mom’s Guide to Coercion and Deterrence  Emma Ashford & Erica Borghard, AC
Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s Economic Future  Ho-fung Hung et al, ChinaFile
Germany – Merkel Destroyed Her Own Party  Jacob Heilbrunn, National Interest
UK – UK’s Vision Is Confident, Success Is Distant  Richard Whitman, Chatham House
UK – Strong Navy Is Critical to Global Britain  Jeremy Hutton & James Rogers, CapX

Research & Analysis

Digital/Democracy – Democracies Under Threat, Heidi Beirich and Wendy Via | GPAHE [PDF]
Energy – Oil 2021 Analysis and forecast to 2026 | IEA International Energy Agency
US – Foreign Threats to the 2020 US National Elections, | National Intelligence Council

Podcasts

Enjeux internationaux – Que cherchent les Etats-Unis dans « l’Indo-Pacifique » ? par Julie Gacon et Pierre Grosser | France Culture

Why The UK’s Post-Coronavirus Economic Recovery Will Not Be As Quick As Expected | Lord Skidelsky

Your Friday Briefing

History is a set of lies agreed upon. Napoleon Bonaparte


By Azra Isakovic

Friday, March 12

Good morning

Welcome to Your Friday Briefing

Books

Review Essay –  A Tyranny Without Tyrants  Patrick J. Deneen, American Affairs
After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed by Andrew Bacevich | Metropolitan Books
Nonfiction – How Sir Francis Drake and Queen Elizabeth I Made England a Global Power, by Nigel Cliff | The New York Times
Nonfiction – In Search of a Kingdom – Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire By Laurence Bergreen | HarperCollins

Must-Reads


UK –The Green New Deal’s time has come – but where has Labour’s radicalism gone? Adam Tooze | The Guardian
Carbon dioxide –The Negative Part of Net Zero, Noah J. Gordon | Internationale Politik Quarterly
Quad/Indo-Pacific – How Biden Can Make the Quad Endure, Evan Feigenbaum, James Schwemlein | Carnegie Endowment
India/China – China’s Himalayan Salami Tactics Are Working  Brahma Chellaney, Project Syndicate
India/China – India and China Need More Than a Border Pullback  Anubhav Gupta, WP Review
Quad/Indo-Pacific – Is the Quad for Real? We’ll Know More on Friday  Salvatore Babones, Foreign Policy
Biden/Blob – On Shedding an Obsolete Past, Andrew Bacevich | TomDispatch

Quad/Indo-Pacific – The Future of the Quad Is Bright  Jeff M. Smith, RealClearWorld
Balkans – Ethnic Engineering in the Balkans  Aleksandar Brezar, Al Jazeera
Space – Avoiding the Folly of a U.S.-China Space Race  Zhou Bo, SCMP
Taiwan – Supply Chains Critical to Taiwan’s Security  James Lee, East Asia Forum
Data Protection – How Europe’s Intelligence Services Aim to Avoid the EU’s Highest Court | Lawfare
EU/Digital – Why Europe’s Digital Decade Matters by Margrethe Vestager, and Josep Borrell | Project Syndicate

Research & Analysis

AI/Data – Auditing employment algorithms for discrimination, Alex Engler | Brookings Institution
EU/Russia/Counterterrorism – Blurry Counterterrorism: A Chance for Russia, A Risk for Europe, Miriam Heiß | DGAP
EU-China –Towards a Fair and Reciprocal Partnership |  EPP Group

Podcasts

Le Cours de l’histoire – Que nous réserve l’avenir ? Xavier Mauduit | France Culture


Your Monday Briefing

“All men are born free: just not for long.”
John le Carré


By Azra Isakovic

Monday, March 08

Good morning

Welcome to Your Monday Briefing

Books

China – Biden’s China Challenge by Christopher Smart | Project Syndicate
Meteorology – Atmospheric Changes, by Laura Marris | The Point Magazine
À propos de : À la gauche du droit, Liora Israël | EHESS | La Vie des idées

Must-Reads


Radioactivity – Irony as Saharan dust returns radiation from French nuclear tests in the 1960s, by Rafael Cereceda | Euronews


Digital- A ‘splinternet’ won’t solve global cyber defense problems by Yaron Rosen | C4ISRNET
Russie – À l’intérieur du Red Web, par Clémence Maquet | Siècle Digital
Splinternet – Goodbye free Internet? By Zuzana Pison | New Europe
UK/US – New UK-US Alignment Can Reshape Transatlantic Cooperation | Chatham House
EU/China – European navies hold stronger China deterrent than first appears, Akita Hiroyuki | Nikkei Asia
UK – A cut too far: why shrinking the Army would be a huge strategic blunder, By Freddie Fitzjames | CapX  
US/Russia/China – Kissinger Revisited. Can the United States Drive a Wedge Between Russia and China? Eugène Rumer Richard Sokolsky | Carnegie Russia
US/China – What Could Cause a US-China War? by Joseph S. Nye, Jr. | Project Syndicate
US/Economics/Biden – The United States’ massive relief package is more than a technocratic policy. It’s a democratic triumph, by Adam Tooze | Foreign Policy

Research & Analysis

US/Trade – 2021 Trade Policy Agenda and 2020 Annual Report of the President of the United States on the Trade Agreements Program, United States Trade Representative
EU/Geo-Economics – Germany’s Debt Brake and Europe’s Fiscal Stance after COVID-19, Shahin Vallée, Jérémie Cohen-Setton, Dominik Buhl | DGAP [PDF] 📥
US/North Korea – Sanctions by the Numbers  | CNAS

Podcasts

EU/Russie – Europe–Russia Relations Today, with Kadri Liik and Dmitri Trenin | Sound Cloud

Your Wednesday Briefing

“Duty [is] not taught by the state.” Lord Acton


By Azra Isakovic

Wednesday, March 03

Good morning

Welcome to Your Wednesday Briefing

Books

France – Communautarisme ? par Marwan Mohammed & Julien Talpin | Puf/Vie des idées
Algeria – Electric News in Colonial Algeria, by Arthur Asseraf | Oxford University Press
How Economics Spurred Witch Hunts in Germany  Johannes Dillinger, Aeon
Was There One Enlightenment or Many?  Jesse Norman, The Spectator USA
The Eclectic Travels of Albrecht Dürer  Laura Cumming, The Guardian

Must-Reads

War – What Civilization Owes to War  Dov Zakheim, National Interest
Ideas – Mars Is a Hellhole  Shannon Stirone, The Atlantic
Japan/CambodiaHow Japan Can Send a Strong Message to Hun Sen  Sam Rainsy, The Diplomat
Biden – Biden’s Brutal Choice on Afghanistan  Fred Kaplan, Slate
US/Saudi – A Realist Reset for U.S.-Saudi Relations  Richard Haass, Project Syndicate
France – Sarkozy Conviction Rocks French Conservatives Marion Solletty, Politico EU
Syria – Syria Strike Sparks New Debate Over War Powers  Robbie Gramer & Jack Detsch, FP
Germany/Bosnia and Herzegovina – Great power politics in Bosnia: How Berlin can stabilise a dysfunctional state, Majda Ruge, ECFR
Germany/Russia/Energy – Pass the Buck to Moscow: A Possible Solution to the Nord Stream 2 Conundrum, Wolfgang Ischinger, Der Spiegel 
Iran – For Iran, Nuclear Weapons Can Wait, by Hilal Khashan | Geopolitical Futures
US/China – The One-Sided War of Ideas With China  Robert Kaplan, Foreign Policy
US/China – Four Flashpoints in the U.S.-China Cold War  Hal Brands, Bloomberg

Research & Analysis

Technology – Final Report, National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence
EU – European Strategic Autonomy: What It Is, Why We Need It, How to Achieve It, Nathalie Tocci, Istituto Affari Internazionale 

Podcasts

Rixes entre bandes – Les mécaniques de la violence | France Culture

Your Thursday Briefing

A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.
Caskie Stinnett


By Azra Isakovic

Thursday, February 11

Good morning

Welcome to Your Thursday Briefing

Books

Michel Foucault“The Last Man Takes LSD – Foucault and the End of Revolution” by Mitchell Dean and Daniel Zamora | Verso Books
Pandémie – Les capitalismes à l’épreuve de la pandémie, par Robert Boyer  | Éditions La Découverte

Must-Reads

Welfare State – « Welfare without the welfare state »: the death of the postwar welfarist consensus, by Anton Jäger & Daniel Zamora | NewStatesman
Nord Stream 2 – The Battle of Nord Stream 2 Narratives  Michael Richter | Riddle
China – The Roots of Cultural Genocide in Xinjiang  Sean Roberts | Foreign Affairs
Pandemic – Merkel’s Pandemic Failure  Markus Feldenkirchen | Der Spiegel
Taiwan –  The State Department’s Bipartisan Taiwan Diplomacy  Jimmy Quinn | Nat’l Review
Trump – Trump’s Worst 2 Military Mistakes for Biden to Fix  Bradley Bowman | Foreign Policy
Technology – Innovation Wars, Christopher Darby and Sarah Sewell | Foreign Affairs
Digital – Competing with China’s Digital Silk Road, Jonathan E. Hillman | Center for Strategic and International Studies
Digital/NATO – Cyber Defence in NATO Countries: Comparing Models, Alessandro Marrone and Ester Sabatino | Istituto Affari Internazionali
Health/Europe – Why Europe Is Falling Behind on Vaccines, Eyck Freymann, Elettra Ardissino, Foreign Policy
US/Yemen – Accomplice to Carnage: How America Enables War in Yemen, Robert Malley and Stephen Pomper, Foreign Affairs
Energy – How tech went big on green energy, Leslie Hook and Dave Lee, Financial Times
Energy – Biden faces climate dilemma over LNG exports to Europe, Dave Keating and Justin Gerdes, Energy Monitor
Climate – Welcome to the Era of Competitive Climate Statecraft, Carolyn Kissane, Foreign Policy
China/Central and Eastern Europe – China’s Eastern Europe Strategy Gets the Cold Shoulder, Stuart Lau, Politico
Black Sea – Strategic sovereignty in the EU’s Southeastern neighborhood: The Black Sea as part of a larger geopolitical region, Stefan Meister | Heinrich Böll Stiftung

Research & Analysis

Proliferation – Strategic Risk Reduction between Nuclear-Weapons Possessors, by  Corentin Brustlein | IFRI 📥 PDF
France/Defense – Rethinking our Defense in the Face of 21st Century Crises, Institut Montaigne 📥 PDF
US/OSCE – United States of America General Elections | OSCE
US/EU/India – Paths to Post-Pandemic Partnership, Mihir Swarup Sharma, German Marshall Fund
EU/India – The EU-India Partnership: Follow-up, Focus, and Free Trade, Maurice Fermont, German Marshall Fund

Podcasts

Covid, saison 3 (3/4) : Etats-Unis : la paupérisation qui vient |  France Culture