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Crisis in Ukraine Is a Winner for Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State of Russia and Belarus on Unity Day in Sevastopol, Crimea, on November 4, 2021. (Getty Images)

Vladimir Putin is having a good crisis in Ukraine, writes Walter Russell Mead in The Wall Street Journal [[link removed]]. At minimal cost, the Russian president’s Ukraine moves have increased his political standing and promoted his agenda at home. The question now is whether he gains more by letting the crisis cool quietly or will continue to turn up the temperature with threats, cyberattacks, incursions by pro-Russian militias, or more blatant provocations up to and possibly including the occupation of more Ukrainian territory by Russian forces. Until the West finds ways to make the crisis-manufacturing business less profitable for the Kremlin, we must expect Russia to continue down this path.

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Virtual Event | Safeguarding America's Critical Supply Chain Capabilities: A Discussion with Senators Bob Casey and John Cornyn

CPU chip in a motherboard's socket. (Getty Images)

Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and John Cornyn (R-TX) are leading efforts in Congress to address supply chain vulnerabilities and the challenge of losing technology and production capacity in critical materials to China and other adversaries. The proposed “National Critical Capabilities Defense Act,” introduced by Senators Casey and Cornyn earlier this year, would establish an interagency committee to review outbound U.S. investments in critical sectors. Join Hudson Senior Fellow Thomas Duesterberg for a discussion [[link removed]] at 12 p.m. today with Senators Casey and Cornyn on this important bill and other national security issues related to competition with China.

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New Book "Viral": The Search for the Origin of COVID-19

Laboratory technicians wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) working on samples to be tested for the COVID-19 coronavirus at the Fire Eye laboratory in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. (Getty Images)

Why are there still so many unanswered questions about the origin of COVID-19? “Viral,” a new book by Alina Chan and Matt Ridley, explores the history of novel coronavirus research in different countries leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, and lays out what we know and what remains to be known about the emergence of this devastating disease. At a recent virtual event, Hudson Institute President and CEO John Walters sat down for a conversation [[link removed]] with Alina Chan and Matt Ridley, and Hudson Senior Fellow David Asher, to discuss their new book and the search for answers on the origin of COVID-19.

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Republicans Can Embrace Much of Biden's Anticorruption Plan

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers closing remarks for the White House's virtual Summit For Democracy in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on December 10, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)

Kleptocracy is a key national security threat: fueling instability and conflict and entrencing adversaries like China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. The Biden administration’s new anticorruption strategy lays out a bold path forward in the fight against kleptocracy that both Democrats and Republicans should be on board with, argues Nate Sibley in The Wall Street Journal [[link removed]]. The new strategy is less a progressive agenda in disguise than a compendium of existing congressional initiatives with bipartisan support–and could provide a future Republican administration with tools to get tougher on kleptocrats.

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Deter Russia by Arming NATO Allies

Servicemen conduct a land operation on the Oleshky Sands military training ground close to Crimea as part of the Sea Breeze 2021 maritime exercise held by NATO and its partner nations from June 28 through July 10. (Getty Images)

This week’s virtual summit between President Biden and Vladimir Putin took place in an environment of diplomatic coercion, with Russian troops massing on the border with Ukraine. How did we arrive at a point where the U.S.-led security system, which has protected Europe for more than 70 years, appears to be tottering in the face of Russian saber-rattling? In The Wall Street Journal [[link removed]], William Schneider writes that the future of the postwar security system could be at risk, and argues that the U.S. must act urgently to protect the states on the front line and restore deterrence in Europe.

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