Growing US Vulnerability Under Trump: Chinese and Russian Perceptions

Washington is hemorrhaging power across the military, diplomatic, economic, informational, and reputational fronts, and from Beijing and Moscow the spectacle looks less like strategic competition than an opportunity handed to them by a White House they can exploit without firing a shot.

Evening Brief: Benghazi Suspect Brought to US for Prosecution, Dozens Killed in Pakistan Mosque Attack, Trump in Hot Water After His Social Media Account Depicts Obamas as Apes

From a Benghazi suspect finally landing in U.S. custody, to a suicide bomber turning Friday prayers in Islamabad into a massacre, to a president amplifying imagery many see as overtly racist, the throughline is stark and uncomfortable, justice can arrive late, violence arrives fast, and the political temperature keeps rising no matter the cost.

America, Pitied Again Abroad

Having surrendered its hard-won title as the “leader of the free world” for a transactional “America First” doctrine, the United States has traded its foundational moral authority for a chaotic, self-absorbed leadership that has moved the international community from admiration to a state of muted horror and pity.