Hudson Announces New President and CEO

John P. Walters speaks at a Hudson event in February 2020 (Jessica Latos Photography).

Hudson Institute announced John P. Walters as its new president and CEO beginning January 1, 2021. Kenneth R. Weinstein, who first joined Hudson in 1991, has led Hudson as CEO since 2005 and as president and CEO since 2011. He will become the Walter P. Stern Distinguished Fellow. “As we look to the next chapter of Hudson, we could have no better leader," said Sarah May Stern, chairman of the Board of Trustees. "Under John’s leadership, Hudson will continue to build on all that has been accomplished through his shared efforts with Ken.”

The U.K. Goes Its Own Way

Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a press conference on reaching a Brexit trade deal in Downing Street on December 24, 2020 in London, England. (WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Whatever its merits as policy, Brexit was an important test of the U.K. political system, writes Walter Russell Mead in the Wall Street Journal. For the U.S., Brexit is a challenge. Without the U.K., the EU is likely over time to become less Atlanticist, more statist and more inward looking. The Biden administration will need a more proactive European and Atlantic policy to avoid the worst. Promoting an Open Atlantic trade agreement, supporting Franco-British military cooperation and working to rejuvenate NATO can strengthen critical U.S. alliances even as the U.K. and the EU go their politically separate ways.

Print On, Party On

A book binder collects sheets of $20 bills at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. (Ricky Carioti/Getty Images)

To finance goodies for voters, politicians like to borrow now and leave it to their successors to pay later, writes Irwin Stelzer in The Times. History suggests that borrowing will be handled not by a burst of fiscal probity, but by using inflation-debased dollars extracted from a generation that does not realize it is paying its grandparents’ bills. Today, the risk of inflation is magnified by three of the upcoming administration's key policymakers. Print on, party on.

The Infamy of June 30th

Riot police charge on a street during an anti-government protest on September 6, 2020 in Hong Kong, China.  (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

One of 2020's most important events occurred in Hong Kong at 11 p.m. on June 30, the eve of the 23rd anniversary of the handover of the former British colony to China. In the Dallas Morning News, Claudia Rosett writes that the date marks the first full takedown of a mature free society by communist tyranny, through the imposition of China’s new National Security law for Hong Kong. In one stunning blow, the law stripped away wholesale the rights and freedoms it promised to Hong Kong for 50 years after the handover.

Xi Eyes South Asia

A showroom model of Port City Colombo, a city being built on reclaimed land in Sri Lanka and funded with $1.4 billion in Chinese investment. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images )

China is pushing into South Asia with unprecedented zeal, writes Patrick Cronin in The Hill. The Biden administration will need to sharpen U.S. policy in light of Beijing’s new focus. For Xi Jinping, on the cusp of a third five-year term, China’s great rejuvenation requires internal security at home, primacy over its periphery, and control over an integrated Eurasian continent and its maritime routes. All of these goals intersect in the eight countries of South Asia.

BEFORE YOU GO...

During the early days of the 2016 campaign trail, then candidate Donald Trump assured his supporters that he would pursue an America first approach to foreign policy. What legacy will President Trump leave behind? Rebeccah Heinrichs joined PBS Newshour to discuss America’s role in the world and the foreign policy challenges facing the Biden administration.