Foreign Policy | RCP Story Stream

U.S.-South Africa Diplomatic Crisis Provides an Opportunity for a New Beginning March 22, 2025

U.S.-South Africa relations sank to a new low last week after the South African ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, accused the Trump administration of “supremacy” on four occasions during an online lecture on U.S. foreign policy to a South Afr...

South Africa

Trump administration

foreign policy

Western Leaders Should Think Twice Before Removing Foreign Dictators March 22, 2025

Libya. Iraq. Syria. All were countries that suffered under the decades-long reign of brutal dictators. All have been swept up into anarchic spells of violence and terror after the West moved to overthrow those dictators. With last weekend’s news of t...

The Quid Pro Quo for Peace in Ukraine March 22, 2025

President Trump promises a rapprochement with Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Before we dismiss this as a pipedream, we should understand the options that Trump has in dealing with President Putin. What will be the quid pro quo for peace in Ukraine...

Why Trump’s Global Transformation Might Just Succeed March 22, 2025

Since returning to office in January 2025, Donald Trump has aggressively pursued a radical reshaping of US foreign policy. ...

Donald Trump

foreign policy

America Should Talk to Hamas About Hostages March 21, 2025

Axios recently reported that Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer “lashed out” at U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler in a “tense” phone call for negotiating with terror group Hamas for the return of a kidnapped U.S. citizen.In February, the U....

Reclaiming Our Sovereignty: 'AID' and the American People March 20, 2025

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy started the U.S. Agency for International Development with a strategic vision to expand American partnership and repel Soviet influence. He understood then what President Donald Trump and Secretary Marco Rubio do no...

foreign policy

Progressive Internationalism Against American Interests March 20, 2025

Calls for a progressive-oriented U.S. foreign policy have been gradually growing since at least the end of the Obama administration. One such argument recently made in Foreign Affairs by Megan Stewart, Jonathan Petkun, and Mara Revkin epitomizes the ...

internationalism

China's Georgian Gamble March 20, 2025

As Georgia pivots away from the West and slides into dictatorship, China emerges as its key strategic partner. While Washington and Brussels struggle to find transatlantic unity and craft a unified approach to Russia and Ukraine, Beijing methodically...

Georgia

Trump’s Legacy: Ending Ukraine War & Countering China March 20, 2025

Trump seeks to end the Ukraine war through diplomacy and curb China’s influence, prioritizing U.S. strength, cultural sovereignty, and strategic leadership over conflicts and foreign control. ...

Donald Trump

china

Ukraine

Trump Must Consider a Stronger Lithuanian Partnership March 20, 2025

As a first-generation American of Lithuanian descent, I have a strong connection to this Baltic country. My parents fled Lithuania in 1985, then under Soviet control, and arrived in America in 1986 for a shot at the American dream.Like millions of fa...

An EU Economic Security Network Essential March 19, 2025

The success of the EU’s response to challenges posed by Russia, China and Trump 2.0 will hinge on the bloc’s ability to establish itself as a global geoeconomics power—leveraging its economic strength to pursue foreign policy goals. ...

How to Match Ends and Means in the Middle East March 19, 2025

For years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States enjoyed superpower status in a unipolar world. Its economy roared, and its military power went unmatched. When it came to pursuing its goals, Washington had to contend with few obsta...

Middle East

The Fragile Axis of Upheaval March 18, 2025

Even regional wars have geopolitical consequences, and when it comes to Russia’s war on Ukraine, the most important of these has been the formation of a loose entente among China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Some U.S. national security experts hav...

china

iran

North Korea

Liberal Dreams & Geopolitical Realities in Brussels March 18, 2025

Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House for a second term, the world of international relations has been upended by dramatic shifts in US foreign policy. Trump’s on-again-off-again threats of tariffs on allies and adversaries aside, the most s...

European Union

Is Turkey Playing Both Sides of Sudan’s Civil War? March 17, 2025

Ankara’s involvement in Sudan indicates its foreign policy is bereft of any values and willing to ignore sanctions intended to deter continued bloodshed. ...

Sudan

Congress Should Pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act March 17, 2025

Much ink has already been spilled on the antisemitism crisis plaguing the United States. As the new Trump administration seeks to crack down on antisemitism on university campuses, Congress should finally pass legislation which treats the subject wit...

Russian Influence Operations in Georgia March 15, 2025

Russia’s influence operations in Georgia represent one of the Black Sea region’s most comprehensive hybrid warfare campaigns. The Kremlin has employed military intervention and territorial occupation, economic embargos, energy leverages, political co...

Do Human Rights Have a Future? March 15, 2025

Ambivalence never polls well. Focus groups rarely select the irresolute choice. Leaders who change their minds, discarding policies in favor of new ones, are frequently slammed for being opportunistic, or worse, flip-flopping chameleons. Certainty is...

Human Rights

How Mexico’s President Won Trump’s Praise March 14, 2025

A scientist and leftist with limited foreign policy experience, Claudia Sheinbaum seems to have connected with President Trump with her calm demeanor and toughness on the border. ...

Mexico

Learning the Right Lessons From Iraq and Afghanistan March 13, 2025

Our Middle East failures do not represent the true legacy of American foreign policy. ...

Iraq

Afghanistan

China Can Live With Trump’s Tariffs March 12, 2025

By turning his back on US allies and global institutions, Trump will help Xi Jinping advance his plan for a China-centric world...

America’s and Ukraine’s Interests Don’t Align March 11, 2025

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s blowup in the Oval Office was the end of what should have been an obvious chain of events. The press has reported for the past two months on what increasingly dire relations between ...

Turkey’s Return to Africa March 11, 2025

Turkey is not the largest power interested in Africa. Its economic engagement, arms sales, and foreign aid are dwarfed by one or more of the major powers....

Turkey

The Foreign Policy Throughline of Trump’s First Month? China March 10, 2025

The Trump administration’s outreach to its Russian counterparts to settle the Ukraine war represents its latest attempt to refocus American foreign policy on China. Inheriting a world order defined by Sino-Russian rapprochement, Iranian regional aggr...

china

The Transatlantic Alliance’s Uncertain Future March 10, 2025

In December, when the German government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost the confidence of the Bundestag, it sparked a general election. It also provoked the fear of a deepening international crisis on top of the domestic one. ...

NATO

foreign policy

Germany