Facts are stubborn things; and whatever our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. —John Adams

As Founding Father John Adams said two and a half centuries ago, "facts are stubborn things." Our task is to identify and elevate those stubborn things.

Here are three…

1. China’s Communist Party (CCP) uses its "Great Firewall" to block citizens from using Facebook and Twitter, while the CCP itself uses these same banned platforms to project official messages around the world and attack the very nation—the United States—whose innovations make so much of China’s propaganda possible.
2. In the two decades that U.S. and NATO forces have been actively engaged in Afghanistan, conditions, and opportunities for women and girls have dramatically improved on every front and by any measure.
3. Venezuela, Cuba, Eritrea, the Russian Federation, Somalia, Uzbekistan, and China are all elected members of the United Nations Human Rights Council, yet none of them is currently ranked as “Free” or “Partly Free” by the non-partisan Freedom House.

This is the second in a series of regular blog posts from the Wilson Center's President, Director, and CEO, Ambassador Mark Green.