Your Thursday Briefing

There are no extraordinary men… just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with.
William Halsey


By Azra Isakovic

Thursday, April 29, 2021

Good afternoon

Welcome to Your Thursday Briefing

Featured

Review – Portrait of the philosopher as a young man, by Branko Milanovic | Global inequality

Books

Biography – “Karl Marx and the Birth of Modern Society”  Michael Heinrich | Monthly Review
Recension/Histoire – Histoires d’Algérie par Étienne Augris | La Vie des idées

Must-Reads

US/EU – A Transatlantic Tally, Katharina Emschermann | Internationale Politik Quarterly
Global – Strengthening the G-20 in an era of great power geopolitical competition, Colin I. Bradford | Brookings
UK – Can the UK be secure if Europe is not? The UK’s (un)Integrated Review, Ian Bond | Centre for European Reform
US/Corruption – Corruption Is a National Security Threat. The CROOK Act Is a Smart Way to Fight It. Senator Roger F. Wicker and Senator Ben Cardin | Just Security
Western Balkans  – The Balkans’ demons of ethno-nationalism, Ralf Melzer | IPS
China/Russia/Turkey – Relegating the “Russia Problem” to Turkey, Emil Avdaliani |  CEPA
Russia/India – Putin pledges medical aid to India in phone call with Modi | China Xinhua News
Climate change: What has Biden promised to do? And is it enough? Oliver Milman | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Secret agreements: How Frontex is helping to drag migrants back to Libyan torture camps | DER SPIEGEL
Biden’s First 100 Days – Has Biden Repaired Trust with the EU? Rosa Balfour | Carnegie Endowment
Biden’s First 100 Days – Has Biden Made the Right Calculation on Russia? Dmitri Trenin | Carnegie Endowment

Research & Analysis

EU – Strategic autonomy and the transformation of the EU: New agendas for security, diplomacy, trade and technology, Niklas Helwig et al. | Finnish Institute of International Affairs
China/Russia/Central and Eastern Europe – Partnership Without Substance: Sino-Russian Relations in Central and Eastern Europe, Bobo Lo and Edward Lucas | CEPA

Podcasts

Visioconférence – Annegret Kramp Karrenbauer, Ministre allemande de la Défense, 20 avril 2021 | Ifri/ Fondation Konrad-Adenauer

Your Wednesday Briefing

« A generation which ignores history has no past and no future. »
Robert Heinlein


By Azra Isakovic

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Wednesday Briefing

Featured

US – Why Joe Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal doesn’t mark the end of America’s “forever war” Samuel Moyn | New Statesman World

Books

Philanthropie – Philanthropes en démocratie par Anne Monier | Puf/Vie des idées
Life – A Day in the Life of Abed Salama, Nathan Thrall | The New York Review of Books
Médias –  L’Information est un bien public Julia Cagé, Benoît Huet | Editions du Seuil

Must-Reads

Human Rights – Rights Group Hits Israel With Explosive Charge: Apartheid, Patrick Kingsley | The New York Times
Human Rights – Abusive Israeli Policies Constitute Crimes of Apartheid | Human Rights Watch
Médias –  « L’information est un bien public » : le plan de bataille pour la probité et la liberté des médias, par Aude Dassonville | Le Monde
EU/Technology – The EU path towards regulation on artificial intelligence, Valeria Marcia and Kevin C. Desouza | Brookings
UK – Moving Past the Troubles: The Future of Northern Ireland Peace, Charles Landow and James McBride | CFR
India – India’s Catastrophe: Illness, Everywhere  Jeffrey Gettleman | New York Times
Russia – The Urgent Need for Improved Cyber Defense  Paul Kolbe | Russia Matters
China/US – China Is Wrong About U.S. Decline  Martin Wolf | Financial Times
Russia/ Czech Republic – Russian State Terrorism Has Triggered the Biggest Fallout with the Czech Republic since 1989, Adéla Klečková | GMF
EU/Defence – Charting a new course: How Poland can contribute to European defence Karolina Muti | ECFR
China/Taiwan – Could China Blockade Taiwan?  Simon Leitch | National Interest
China/US – Four Ways a China-U.S. War at Sea Could Play Out  James Stavridis | Bloomberg
US/Biden – Biden’s Philosophy of “As If” | Bruno Maçães
US/Biden – Biden’s Dreampolitik at Home and Abroad, Bruno Maçães | American Affairs Journal | American Affairs

Research & Analysis

Corruption/Europe – How to fight corruption and uphold the rule of law, Carmino Mortera-Martinez | Centre for European Reform/Open Society Institute
Israel – “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution,” | Human Rights Watch
UK/EU/Germany – Germany, the EU and Global Britain: So Near, Yet So Far: How to Link “Global Britain” to European Foreign and Security Policy, Claudia Major and Nicolai von Ondarza | SWP

Podcasts

Climate – How Radical Is President Joe Biden On Climate? Aaron Bastani & Adam Tooze | Downstream

Your Thursday Briefing

A society without dreams is a society without a future.
Carl Gustav Jung


By Azra Isakovic

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Thursday Briefing

Featured

Green Energy – America’s race to net zero, Adam Tooze | New Statesman

Books

US/History – Ages of American Capitalism, Jon Levy | Penguin Random House
Review – Ages of American Capitalism | Eric Primm
À propos de : Karen Akoka, L’asile et l’exil. Une histoire de la distinction réfugiés/migrants, La Découverte, par Annalisa Lendaro | La Vie des idées

Must-Reads

India/Covid19 – ‘The system has collapsed’: India’s descent into Covid hell, Hannah Ellis-Petersen | The Guardian
Vaccine – How the Pandemic Changed Europe, Isaac Chotiner & Adam Tooze | The New Yorker
ECB – Hawks press ECB to scale back bond buying despite rising Covid wave Martin Arnold | Financial Times
Ukraine – Prepare for the Worst, András Rácz | DGAP
Ukraine/Russia – Russia, Ukraine and the West: Déjà vu all over again, Ian Bond | Encompass
Russia/Ukraine – Why Russia Is Escalating in Ukraine  Andreas Umland | National Interest
Interventionism – Is Liberal Interventionism Dead?  Sholto Byrnes | The National
Angela Merkel – The Merkel Model and Its Limits  Constanze Stelzenmüller | Foreign Affairs
US/Japan – The U.S.-Japan Summit: Uneventful and Indecisive  June Teufel Dreyer | FPRI
Germany – Germany’s corruption scandals: How to limit authoritarian influence in the EU, Gustav Gressel and Majda Ruge, | ECFR
Ukraine/Turkey – Ukraine-Turkey Cooperation Has Its Limits  Dimitar Bechev | Al Jazeera
Biden/Tax Havens – Biden’s War on Tax Havens Could Pinch Europe  David Böcking et al | Der Spiegel
US – How Joe Biden is reshaping America’s global role | The Economist
US/Digital – America’s Place in Cyberspace: The Biden Administration’s Cyber Strategy Takes Shape, David P. Fidler | CFR
Economy/Technology – The digital revolution is eating its young, Mark Esposito, Landry Signé, and Nicholas Davis | Brookings
Neoliberalism – Are Intellectual Property Rights Neoliberal? Yes and No, by Quinn Slobodian | ProMarket

Research & Analysis

Economy/Global – Global Goliaths: Multinational Corporations in the 21st Century Economy, C. Fritz Foley, James R. Hines Jr. and David Wessel | Brookings
Global Trade – East Asian Forum Quarterly: Reinventing global trade | Hinrich Foundation
Freedom – 2021 World Press Freedom Index | Reporters Without Borders
Europe/Climate – Europe’s green moment: How to meet the climate challenge, Susi Dennison, Rafael Loss and Jenny Söderström | ECFR
American Foreign Policy – Do External Threats Unite or Divide? Rachel Myrick | Cambridge Core

Podcasts

Ukraine – « Zelenskyy’s foreign policy: One year in » | Atlantic Council

Your Monday Briefing

Of all possessions a friend is the most precious.
Herodotus


By Azra Isakovic

Monday, April 19, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Monday Briefing

Featured

France/Sahel – Philanthropic Imperialism, Stephen W. Smith | London Review of Books

Books

Books interview –Laurent Binet: ‘In France, I just feel like we are lost in space’, Alex Preston | Guardian Books
About – Louis Menand : “The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War,” by Marc Tracy | The New York

Must-Reads

Guaranteed Work –Does it make sense to question the morality of capitalism? Laura Pennacchi  | Social Europe
Financial NewsChina Officially Backs A Crypto Currency And Establishes It As Their Official Coin,  Shen Haixiong | Forbes
UK –Understanding Britain’s New Strategic Outlook  Ryan Evans | War on the Rocks
Ukraine/Russia – Why All-Out Ukraine-Russia War Is Unlikely  Liana Semchuk | The Conversation
US/China – Did China Simulate Attack on U.S. Carrier?  Stephen Silver | 1945
US – America’s Come-From-Behind Pandemic Victory  Hal Brands | Foreign Policy
China – Can China’s New Trade Strategy Hit the Right Buttons?  Wang Yong | EA Forum
Jordan –Inside Jordan’s royal crisis: why the prince turned to tribal leaders for support, Mehul Srivastava and Andrew England | FT
Economy – Forget identity politics: economics is what matters now, Simon Kuper | FT Weekend Magazine

Research & Analysis

China/Foreign Policy – What Do Overseas Visits Reveal about China’s Foreign Policy Priorities? | CSIS
US/EU/Economy – The US proposals on digital services taxes and minimum tax rates: How the EU should respond, Zach Meyers | Centre for European Reform
COVID-19/Recover – To recover from COVID-19, downtowns must adapt, Tracy Hadden Loh Joanne Kim | Brookings

Podcasts

How did the Iraq catastrophe happen?

Hosted by award-winning reporter Noreen Malone, the fifth season of Slow Burn explores the people and ideas that propelled the country into the Iraq war, and the institutions that failed to stop it.

Your Thursday Briefing

Why be a man when you can be a success?
Bertolt Brecht


By Azra Isakovic

Thursday, March 25

Good morning

Welcome to Your Thursday Briefing

Featured

Liberalism –An excerpt from Liberalism at Large: The World According to the Economist by Alexander Zevin, | Verso Books

Books

Populism –Technopopulism – The New Logic of Democratic Politics, by Christopher J. Bickerton and Carlo Invernizzi Accetti | Oxford Academic
Liberalism – Liberalism at Large – The World According to the Economist, by Alexander Zevin  | Verso Books
Essay –Was 1925 Literary Modernism’s Most Important Year? By Ben Libman | New York Times Books

Must-Reads

China/Trade – How much will China grow as an export market? Stewart Paterson | Hinrich Foundation
Global – A Grand Strategy of Democratic Solidarity, Hal Brands and Charles Edel | The Washington Quarterly
Deterrence – Democratic Deterrence: How to Dissuade Hybrid Interference, Mikael Wigell | The Washington Quarterly
NATO – Revitalizing Transatlantic Relations: NATO 2030 and Beyond, Sara Bjerg Moller and Sten Rynning | The Washington Quarterly
US/China – China’s Belt and Road: Implications for the United States, Jacob J. Lew, Gary Roughead, Jennifer Hillman and David Sacks | CFR
UK/EU – Global Britain Lays out Its Stall, but EU Missing in Action, Robin Niblett | Chatham House
US/EU – Ready, set, go: Emerging areas of EU-US cooperation | AmCham EU
US/Digital – Recommendations to the Biden Administration On Regulating Disinformation and Other Harmful Content on Social Media, Caroline Atkinson, et al. | Harvard Kennedy School/NYU Stern School
Western Balkans/EU – The Plight of the Western Balkans Is a Wake-up Call for Europe, Vedran Džihić and Paul Schmidt | IAI
China/US/EU – China’s hardline turn lifts chances of deeper EU-US alliance, Stuart Lau, Rym Momtaz and Jakob Hanke Vela | Politico
Russia – Fallacies and Failures in the Western Perception of Russia, Lilia Shevtsova | Robert Bosch Academy

Research & Analysis

Economy – The Transatlantic Economy 2021, Daniel S. Hamilton and Joseph P. Quinlan, Wilson Center/JHU/U.S. Chamber of Commerce/AmCham EU [PDF]
EU-Turkey – Customs Union: Old Instrument, New Function in EU-Turkey Relations | CATS Network [PDF]
Russia/Turkey – Turkish-Russian Adversarial Collaboration in Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh, Güney Yildiz | SWP Berlin [PDF]
EU – The Role of Differentiation in EU Foreign, Security and Defence Policy Cooperation with Neighbouring Countries, Senem Aydın-Düzgit, Ian Bond and Luigi Scazzieri | IAI
US/Digital – Online Hate and Harassment: The American Experience 2021 | Anti-Defamation League

Podcasts

Talking Politics – Technopopulism | Acast

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 Friday Briefing

Those who cannot think or take responsibility for themselves need, and clamor for, a leader.
Hermann Hesse


By Azra Isakovic

Jan. 22, 2021

Good morning

Welcome to Your Friday Briefing

Books

Livres – « L’extrême centre ou le poison français – 1789-2019 » de Pierre Serna | Éditions Champ Vallon
Verso Books – How Derrida and Foucault became the most misunderstood philosophers of our time, By Peter Salmon | Prospect Magazine

Revues

Revues – Insécurité collective – La Crise de multilatéralisme, Questions internationales, N° 105 Serge Sur, Sabine Jansen | La Documentation française

Must-Reads 

US – The Last Chance for American Internationalism, Hal Brands | Foreign Affairs   
US – The outlook for America looks grim, but that could quickly change, The Economist   
US/Nuclear – Proportionate Deterrence: A Model Nuclear Posture Review [ Carnegie Endowment
Europe/Health – What do vaccination passports mean for Europe?  | Wolff, Bruegel 
Turkey/Eastern Mediterranean – What Erdogan Really Wants in the Eastern Mediterranean | Foreign Policy   
Black Sea – The Black Sea…Or a Black Hole? Ben Hodges, CEPA

EU/China/Investment – The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment: One Deal, Two Realities, Didi Kirsten Tatlow, DGAP   
EU/China/US – Transatlantic Awakening: Why Europe and China are Creating a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, Valbona Zeleni and Joseph Vann, National Interest 
Eastern Partnership – The Eastern Partnership: Three dilemmas in a time of troubles, Bob Deen, Wouter Zweers, and Iris van Loon (eds.), Clingendael 
China – Beijing’s Parting Gift to Former Trump Officials  Jimmy Quinn, National Review
Russia – A Vision for Russia  Gordon Humphrey & Joe Lieberman, The Hill
US/Japan – How Biden Should Support the U.S.-Japan Alliance  Andrew Erickson, 1945

  

Research & Analysis

France/Africa – Operation Barkhane and the Future of Intervention in the Sahel, Denis M. Tull, SWP
EU – The European economic and financial system: fostering openness, strength and resilience, European Commission 
US/Climate – Choosing Wisely: How the Biden Administration can Build a Better Coalition on International Energy and Climate Policy in a Post-COVID World, David Goldwyn and Andrea Clabough, Atlantic Council   

   


Your Thursday Briefing

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