This Friday, Niall Ferguson applies the history of the 1956 Suez Crisis to America’s challenge today in the Strait of Hormuz; Bill Whalen speaks with a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner about the future of journalism; and Joshua Rauh and Gregory Kearney propose precise policy adjustments that would improve national security without unduly restricting beneficial economic activity.
War in Iran
In a new column at The Free Press, Senior Fellow Niall Ferguson compares the US-Israeli war against Iran—with open navigation of the Strait of Hormuz hanging in the balance—to the failure of British, French, and Israeli forces to capture the Suez Canal in 1956. At Suez, the Eisenhower administration refused to assist or even permit the UK-French and Israeli forces from capturing the canal. “Seventy years later, however, the administration Vance is part of has put the United States in precisely the role of Britain in 1956, joining forces with Israel to seize a crucial waterway and to overthrow the regime that aspires to control it,” Ferguson writes. Ferguson explores how the Suez coalition wished for regime change in Egypt, similar to the US-Israeli aim today, but could not achieve it. He also considers the roles of other actors, such as China today, and how the 1956 debacle pushed France to distance itself from NATO and develop its own nuclear capability.Read more here. [Subscription required.]
Journalism, Politics, and Policy
With the public’s trust in the media at historic lows and the industry trying to adapt to changing information-gathering tastes, what does the future hold for a struggling “fourth estate” (traditional news outlets) and an incipient “fifth estate” (bloggers and social media)? On Matters of Policy & Politics, columnist, academic, and two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient David Shribman examines a changed landscape of print media ceding dominance to cable news networks, which in turn compete against an even speedier and less constrained social media. Shribman and Distinguished Policy Fellow Bill Whalen discuss the future of a political journalism without President Trump to boost viewership and readership; the extent of bias within journalists’ ranks; understanding community concerns by reading (and replying to) letters to the editor; and what aspiring journalists should study during their college years. On the last point, Shribman suggests: Read the Bible, Shakespeare, and plenty of history. Watch or listen here.
Economics and National Security
“Standard free trade theory is broadly correct and has been essential for economic growth,” argue Senior Fellow Joshua Rauh and Research Associate Gregory Kearney at the Liberty Lens Substack. But key assumptions underpinning free trade theory “break down in important ways when it pertains to China and industries that concern U.S. national defense.” This essay explores how to strike the right balance between free trade, with its myriad benefits for participants in voluntary exchange, and national security interventions intended to safeguard the nation’s economic stability and power. After analyzing vulnerabilities in the supply chains of critical minerals, Rauh and Kearney call for “permitting reform for critical mineral refining.” The authors also call for supply chain audits in the defense sector to reach into lower tiers of suppliers feeding into defense production. Rauh and Kearney conclude, “The United States has a real problem with its strategic supply chains, but it also has a tractable set of solutions at its fingertips.” Read more here.
Technology Policy
On April 14, the Bio-Strategies & Leadership team at the Hoover Institution will convene 300 action-oriented leaders at Stanford for the inaugural Bio-Leadership Summit, a one-day event designed to elevate biotechnology culturally and politically. Participants will have the chance to speak frankly regarding what biotech leadership looks like across the most important domains of strategic impact. Up-and-coming or established leaders, with or without a biotechnology background, who have a track record of turning ideas into outcomes are invited to participate. Read more here.
The Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI and Data Science and the Hoover Institution’s Technology Policy Accelerator are jointly releasing a call for seed grant proposals for research projects focused on AI and geopolitics. This initiative calls for proposals for research projects that tackle important challenges and opportunities in this space from either a technical or social science perspective, with findings that can generate policy insights and recommendations. Proposals must come from interdisciplinary teams reflecting at least one lead from the humanities or social sciences, with at least one lead from a technical field. At least one lead must be a Stanford faculty, fellow, or researcher who qualifies as a principal investigator (PI) according to the Stanford University Research Policy Handbook. Proposals are due May 1, with award decisions by July 1. Learn more and apply here.
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