Happy Fourth of July!

Hudson Highlights

Nadia Schadlow explores how Trump's China strategy is transforming the U.S. from enabler to competitor for Fox News [[link removed]].

Walter Russell Mead suggests that Japan's recent blending of politics and trade is a sign of Trump's lasting effect on world politics in his latest column for the Wall Street Journal [[link removed]].

Jon Lerner praises the Trump administration's Middle East peace plan as bold and innovative and commends the president's commitment to finding a resolution in an Op-Ed for CNN [[link removed]].

In the Wall Street Journal [[link removed]], Michael Doran argues that the goal of Iran's recent aggression is not economic sanction relief, but rather to preserve the legitimacy of its nuclear program.

Seth Cropsey considers how the Hong Kong protests could foreshadow future "reunion" efforts towards Taiwan in the Wall Street Journal [[link removed]].

Blaise Misztal insists that a comprehensive strategic vision from Poland, in line with the U.S., will strengthen both U.S.-Polish and transatlantic relations in The Hill [[link removed]].

Hudson Leads Debate on Future of U.S.-Iran Relations

In an essay for Mosiac [[link removed]], Mike Doran dives deep into Iran's "strategic pressure" campaign to persuade JCPOA signatories to preserve the deal and ease sanctions:

Iran’s policy of strategic pressure, then, is made up of three separate but interlocking lines of effort: a struggle to gain relief from the oil and banking sanctions; a campaign to tarnish Trump as an agent of chaos; and an initiative aimed at keeping its nuclear waivers in place. Among these, the third is by far the most urgent.

...

As nodes in its nuclear-weapons program, Iran’s nuclear facilities are the crown jewels of the Islamic Republic. The JCPOA is the fortress that surrounds them. The waivers, in turn, have been the cornerstones of that fortress. Pompeo, on May 3, crashed the gates. Khamenei will therefore fight to preserve the JCPOA almost as hard as he will fight to retain the nuclear facilities themselves—and he will fight just as hard to reinstate the two nuclear waivers and preserve the other five.

The essay has been widely circulated among administration officials [[link removed]], including Vice President Mike Pence and National Security Advisor John Bolton, and was highlighted by Ben Shapiro [[link removed]].

Walter Russell Mead examines how Trump's showman tendencies have shaped his foreign policy, particularly with Iran, in the Wall Street Journal [[link removed]].

Hudson experts address escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran:

Upcoming Events

July 9

9:45 a.m.

U.S.-Indonesia Relations at 70: History, Policy, and the Future [[link removed]]

July 24

12:00 p.m.

Dialogues on American Foreign Policy and World Affairs: A Conversation with U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse [[link removed]]

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