In observance of Thanksgiving, the next edition of the Hoover Daily Report will be published on Monday, December 1.
Today, the GoodFellows answer questions from their audience on a range of topics, from the Ukraine war to reading and writing strategies; Eugene Volokh succinctly explains the laws and principles governing student speech on college campuses; and the Hoover Institution Library & Archives announces a major milestone in the development of the Russia Abroad Digital Collection, a repository of Russian-language newspapers produced abroad during the Soviet era.
Politics, Institutions, and Public Opinion
In a new episode of GoodFellows devoted solely to viewers’ questions, Hoover Senior Fellows Niall Ferguson, John H. Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster delve into matters ranging from the somber (allaying 20-somethings’ climate alarmism, “ideal” interest rates, the future of tank warfare, AI’s redesign of future workforces) to the more lighthearted (H.R.’s service nickname, the artist behind John’s wall hangings, and how the fellows would ride out a future pandemic). Finally, on the eve of America’s Thanksgiving holiday, the fellows count their blessings—especially “Papa” Ferguson, who recently joined John (aka “Blah-Blah” to his grandchildren) and H.R. (likewise, his grandkids’ “Papa”) as a first-time grandfather. Watch or listen here.
Law & Policy
A new video from Hoover’s Tennenbaum Program for Fact-Based Policy, featuring Senior Fellow Eugene Volokh, explores free speech on campus. Public universities, as government entities, are bound by the First Amendment and cannot punish students for speech based on its content, except within narrow and historically recognized categories such as true threats, intentional incitement, or direct personal insults likely to provoke violence. While private universities are not legally required to follow the First Amendment, many adopt equivalent protections to avoid offering students fewer speech rights than public institutions, with some states extending such protections by statute. Watch here.
Hoover Institution News
The Hoover Institution Library & Archives has reached a significant milestone in the development of the Russia Abroad Digital Collection, an open-access platform devoted to preserving and providing global access to Russian-language newspapers published outside the Soviet Union between 1917 and 1992. The collection’s mission is to digitize all extant Russian-language newspapers produced abroad during this period and to make them fully searchable to researchers worldwide. In its first year, the project has already reshaped the study of the Russian diaspora by removing longstanding barriers to access—an especially important development as research within the Russian Federation has grown increasingly difficult. All materials are freely available, with no subscription or registration required. Read more here.
Security and Defense
A new piece at Defining Ideas presents an excerpt from The Arsenal of Democracy, a new book from the Hoover Institution Press offering a sweeping blueprint of deterrence for the United States and its military. The work combines technological, strategic, and logistical analysis of America’s competition with China. Its authors, Hoover Fellow Eyck Freymann and Harry Halem, explore centuries of military victories and defeats to set a course for US defense in the coming decades and in every corner of the world. The authors focus not just on weapons but on how arms are envisioned, paid for, built, and deployed; how the United States can maintain its strongest systems while restoring those that have become weak; and how innovative tech is not just essential to combat but the centerpiece of an ongoing revolution in war itself. Read more here.
International Affairs
Writing for Foreign Policy, Senior Fellow Šumit Ganguly analyzes the upcoming visit to India by Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin, his “first to New Delhi since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.” Ganguly notes that “India and Russia are turning to each other because of their current difficulties with the United States since US President Donald Trump returned to office.” But the foreign policy expert notes that “Putin sees this relationship as transactional,” and India turning away further from the US “won’t serve New Delhi’s long-term interests.” Given Moscow’s increasing alignment with Beijing, Ganguly says, “Russia can no longer be counted on to come to India’s assistance in the event of renewed tensions with China.” Read more here.
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