Today, Gary Roughead, Jim Mattis, Marise Payne, and Nicholas Carter call for increased allied commitments to the AUKUS security pact; Andrew Roberts reviews Barry Strauss’s new book on the history of Jewish rebellion against the Roman empire; and Larry Diamond and coauthors push back against claims that the Voice of America broadcast service has been compromised by the Chinese Communist Party, arguing instead that the media outlet remains a key American tool in countering authoritarian narratives from Beijing.
Confronting and Competing with China
In an essay for Foreign Affairs, Distinguished Military Fellow Admiral Gary Roughead, Distinguished Fellow General Jim Mattis, and Distinguished Visiting Fellows Hon. Marise Payne and General Nicholas Carter argue that the United States should spearhead a revitalization of the AUKUS security partnership (among Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to ensure the alliance is well prepared to meet potential conflicts in the decades ahead. The authors maintain that joint development and manufacturing of new military technologies (like advanced nuclear submarines) among alliance members enables more rapid and significant innovation and boosts “interoperability during a conflict.” Additionally, the authors find, “The strongest argument for AUKUS is that China and Russia object to it.” The piece makes the case that increasing allied political and economic investment in the security pact would increase deterrence toward authoritarian adversaries and bolster the West’s security from the Arctic to the western Pacific. Read more here.
Revitalizing History
Writing at The Wall Street Journal, Distinguished Visiting Fellow Andrew Roberts reviews the latest book by his Hoover Institution colleague Senior Fellow Barry Strauss, Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World’s Mightiest Empire. Roberts praises the book’s use of modern archeological discoveries “to extract information from ancient battlefields,” as well as Strauss’s careful treatment of “untrustworthy” yet important extant sources such as the ancient historian Josephus’s “The Jewish War.” Noting the book’s relevance to current events, Roberts adds that Strauss’s “story of vicious massacres and massive reprisals in Judea has powerful resonances in the contemporary Middle East for anyone wanting to look for them.” Roberts, himself a celebrated historian and biographer, concludes that Jews vs. Rome “powerfully” sheds light on “two centuries of tragedy and disaster, intermixed with very occasional moments of short-lived triumph.” An excerpt from Strauss’s Jews vs. Rome is available to read here at Defining Ideas. Read more from The Wall Street Journal here.
Revitalizing American Institutions
“Kari Lake, senior adviser to the US Agency for Global Media—parent of the Voice of America [VOA]—has made serious and deeply troubling accusations about the VOA’s Mandarin Service,” write Senior Fellow Larry Diamond and coauthors Orville Schell and Robert Daly at The Washington Post. They add, “The VOA described by Lake is not the VOA we know and to which we have all contributed.” The authors maintain that contrary to the allegations advanced by Lake, “VOA’s Mandarin Service in recent years has consistently delivered hard-hitting coverage of US-China relations, exposed Chinese Communist Party disinformation, and investigated Beijing’s malign influence around the world.” What’s more, the authors argue, “The most telling evidence that VOA challenges Chinese Communist Party propaganda is the Beijing authorities’ decades-long efforts to jam its broadcasts.” The piece concludes with a call to strengthen, rather than cut, the work of VOA’s congressionally mandated Mandarin Service. Read more here.
International Affairs
In his weekly column for RealClearPolitics, Senior Fellow Peter Berkowitz assesses the state of Israeli society and politics after nearly two years of warfare in the wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror attacks. Berkowitz suggests that “Israelis do not dwell on having overcome horrors and heartbreak to take the fight to the enemy” but rather “are more likely to agonize over the hostages, worry about their own families’ safety and prosperity, and fret over their nation’s future.” The reason for this, in the former law professor and State Department official’s view, “is that Israel remains at war on multiple fronts with no end in sight. The cumulative battlefield accomplishments clarify peace’s elusiveness.” Berkowitz goes on to chronicle the numerous domestic, diplomatic, ideological, and military challenges that continue to confront Israeli society, before concluding that “Israelis continue to demonstrate inspiring reserves of resilience” in the face of these obstacles. Read more here.
Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies
Following up on his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed “A Few Questions for Aspiring Federal Reserve Chiefs,” Senior Fellow John H. Cochrane offers his own responses to the questions he would put to candidates for the US central bank’s top job. On the subject of setting goals for the rate of inflation, Cochrane says, “I favor zero inflation, and a price level target. Like Alan Greenspan, I think the Fed should get there slowly and opportunistically rather than all at once, because I distrust my own understanding of dynamics and adjustment to new regimes.” Against the recent practice of targeting 2% annual inflation, Cochrane argues, “We don’t shorten the yard by 2% every year, why should we undo the standard of value by 2% every year?” Examining the Fed’s dual pursuit of full employment and price stability, Cochrane says, “Just keep the price level stable and employment will take care of itself.” Read more here.
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