Excerpt
List of Excerpt articles
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A U.S. solderi holding a gun and wearing a helmet provides cover for other soldiers seen behind him out of focus. The U.S. Needs a New Purpose in the Middle East
It’s time to ditch both romantic ideals of remaking the region and the policy of retrenchment.
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An aerial photo shows shipping containers stacked at the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in Ningbo, China. Democracy Needs an Economic NATO
Fighting Chinese coercion requires new alliances.
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Following increased Chinese military exercises near the island, flares are fired during a Taiwanese military live-fire drill in Pingtung, Taiwan. China and the U.S. Are Numb to the Real Risk of War
The pair are dangerously close to the edge of nuclear war over Taiwan—again.
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A Ukrainian serviceman wearing combat fatigues is seen from the waist up as he stands on a grassy field. His arms are crossed over a rifle that he holds against his chest, and a Christian rosary with white and purple beads hangs from the neck of the rifle. The Divine Marketplace Is Pretty Crowded
Religions aren’t just spiritual communities. They’re also businesses.
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German chambermaids watch as Duke Ellington and dancer Marianne Lutz-Pastre rehearse a number on the terrace of the Frankfurter Hof Hotel in Germany. Duke Ellington, the Jazz Legend Who Became a Diplomat
The band leader broke new ground in U.S. cultural diplomacy even as he faced racism at home.
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Four exhaust pipe towers from a gas pipeline station release smoke into the twilight sky. How Globalization Rose and Fell With Nord Stream
The pipeline bringing Russian gas to Europe was once seen as a triumph for borderless business—but Putin’s invasion of Ukraine put an end to that fantasy.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping waits in front of a painting of the Great Wall at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Xi’s Imperial Ambitions Are Rooted in China’s History
Myths of peacefulness belie a record as expansionist as any other power.
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A historic image of four businessmen at a table with basketballs. How ‘Made in China’ Became American Gospel
The canny marketing of imports from vodka to basketballs transformed the U.S.-China trade relationship.
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Children play near a large screen showing images of Chinese President Xi Jinping. China’s Secret to Controlling the Internet
The CCP uses manpower, not just technology, to limit speech.
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John Ackah Blay-Miezah smokes a cigar in the London office of the Oman Ghana Trust Fund in the 1980s. The Man Who Conned the World
How one of the greatest scam artists of all time used Ghana’s colonial past to get rich.
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A U.S. soldier sets fire to a building during the My Lai massacre Confusion and Ambition Caused the My Lai Atrocities
A rare combination of failures led to an infamous massacre.
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A sticker featuring U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and partially reading "asylum" is seen on the pavement of a Berlin street. The Song and Dance of American Secrecy
Espionage law hasn’t changed much since William Howard Taft—yet recent presidents have wielded it as a cudgel more than ever before.
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Trump's silhouette is seen from the back. He's walking toward a big illuminated U.S. flag. How the U.S. Created Its Own Reality
Historian Heather Cox Richardson charts the roots of 21st-century disinformation—and how American democracy began to falter.
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Dozens of people have dinner at a rooftop restaurant at night with the water and lit-up high rises of the Shanghai skyline behind them. How to Get Chinese Elites to Support Democracy
It may be in their own self-interest.
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U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un talk before a meeting in the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea on June 30, 2019. North Korean Talks Collapsed but Didn’t Fail
I helped negotiate the Trump-Kim meeting. Real peace is still possible.
