Peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine include an insistence from Vladimir Putin that Ukraine maintain "neutrality" between Russia and the West, just as Finland remained neutral during the Cold War. Leon Aron explains that this would amount to no more than a temporary cease-fire in Russia's war against an independent Ukraine. "Without an international security guarantee for Ukraine," he asks, "is there any doubt that Russia will interpret a peace agreement as the right to meddle aggressively in Ukraine's politics and seek to reorient the Ukrainian economy toward Russia?" For updates on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, be sure to visit AEI's Critical Threats Project.

Colin Dueck argues that, contrary to media narratives, Republicans did not sympathize with Russia before or after the invasion of Ukraine, and they mostly favor harsher action against Russia than they feel the Biden administration has taken. However, he writes that Republicans' support for Ukraine does not translate into support for liberal internationalism, and America's perceived national interest is the most important factor in their thinking about foreign policy.

Daniel A. Cox suggests that today, interfaith dialogue often involves conversations between individuals with "entirely different perceptions about the necessity and relevance of religion." He also suggests that members of Gen Z are drawn to religious communities that provide more freedom "to define their own religious worldview" than is possible in traditional churches.

As more and more states legalize marijuana and more job seekers test positive for the drug, Naomi Schaefer Riley warns of the consequences for the working class. "Unfortunately," she writes, "the message that we are sending to young people about drugs is that they are fine as long as the habit is managed well, and we can make some money off them."

In the Wall Street Journal, Phil Gramm and Christine Wilson argue that through executive orders and regulatory decrees, President Joe Biden's administration overturned a long-held bipartisan consensus on antitrust regulation that put consumer welfare first and revolutionized the American economy.