Election Day

American Diplomacy

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A world tour of problems, and America's role in causing and resolving them.

  • An incoherent strategy of navigating rivalries in the Middle East, in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, as a war on terror overlaps with allegiances to governments like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
  • China's internal oppression and consolidation of power in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong; as well as a hunger for international influence, through an investment plan called the Belt and Road initiative that builds soft power
  • A rise of far right-wing authoritarianism in Poland, Hungary, Germany, and the UK; the continuation of such a regime in Putin's Russia, where the Alexei Navalny controversy continues.

    • America, despite many mistakes, is holding the global liberal democratic order together. America cannot give up on diplomacy, and must be a problem solver with a broad reach. For this, the Foreign Service and State Department must be valued and listened to in government, as Ronan Farrow's book "War on Peace" argues.


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    Election DayBy Justin Ahn