UN Partners with China on Big Data

Chairman Xi Jinping raises a toast to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the PRC. (Getty Images)

While the U.S. is trying to limit data flows to Beijing, the United Nations is working with Beijing to set up joint global data hubs based in China, writes Claudia Rosett in The Wall Street Journal.  The U.N. badge of legitimacy would make it easier for Beijing to secure flows of data from member states, influence U.N. standards, and project the Chinese Communist Party’s techno-tyranny around the world.

Protecting the 2020 Elections

John C. Demers speaks at a DOJ press conference on October 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)

John Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the U.S Department of Justice, joined Hudson for a discussion on how the U.S. ensures election integrity in the face of foreign-directed interference, cybercrime, and other threats. Watch our discussion or read the transcript to learn about the new forms of election interference being attempted this cycle, and how the DOJ is addressing the most salient threats ahead of Election Day.

Japan's Trade Challenge

An engineer from Japanese startup Groove X Inc. disassembles a robot. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty)

Japan's new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, starts his tenure with years of experience under former PM Shinzo Abe. But he is just revving up, notes Patrick Cronin in The National Interest. Prime Minister Suga will likely place greater emphasis on the economic dimensions of national security and accelerate efforts to challenge the Beijing’s industrial champions—while still maintaining economic ties with China, their leading trade partner.

A World of Geopolitical Opportunity

New Hampshire primary voting booths in Concord, NH on Tuesday Feb. 09, 2016. (Getty Images)

The U.S. has fallen into one of its periodic episodes of self-flagellation and existential doubt. That is not a bad thing, argues Walter Russell Mead in The Wall Street Journal. Constant self-examination and a refusal to settle for the status quo are part of the dynamic culture that makes America work. Whoever holds the White House will have the chance to reshape and renew American alliances as the shift of U.S. strategic interest to the Indo-Pacific gains momentum.

DoD and the Art of Disruption

An example of a Skyborg swarming micro unmanned aerial vehicle. (Getty Images)

Silicon Valley’s worst kept secret is its strategy of “fake it ‘till you make it,” Bryan Clark writes in Forbes. The Pentagon should avoid falling for the energetic tech salesmen who use demos and marketing to build excitement while engineers rush to make a product work in the real world.  Ambitious marketing isn’t the lesson DoD should take from Silicon Valley; instead the U.S. military should learn the art of disruption.

BEFORE YOU GO...

This week, images of protests and toppled statues dominated news coverage of Columbus Day. But what was the impetus driving the creation of Christopher Columbus statues in the first place? In Forbes, Arthur Herman examines the challenges faced by 19th century Italians who immigrated to the U.S., and how Columbus became a focal point of their push for inclusion in American society.