Beyond the Water's Edge

With the future of the global order hinging on the outcome of today’s great power competition, a group of multi-aligned states has emerged with a growing ability to influence the outcome of this competition. Effectively engaging these ‘global swing states’ will be essential if the United States is to succeed in preserving an international order that favors American interests and principles.

This edition of Beyond the Water’s Edge highlights strategies for confronting authoritarian threats—urging stronger sanctions on Russia, exposing Iranian regime brutality, and warning against revisionist movements on the American right.

This edition of Beyond the Water’s Edge spotlights North Korea’s alliance with anti-American powers, evolving UN reform debates, and escalating threats from China and Iran — with expert insight and commentary throughout.

This edition of Beyond the Water’s Edge explores polling on Trump’s foreign policy base, Iran’s covert threats in the Americas, U.S. strategic mineral policy, and the shifting dynamics of global alliances.

In this week’s Beyond the Water’s Edge, experts unpack China and Russia’s deepening “no-limits” partnership, assess U.S. strikes on Iran, and explore strategic shifts across the Middle East and Africa.

This edition of Beyond the Water’s Edge analyzes U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, evaluates the risks of premature celebration, and explores vulnerabilities exposed by allied operations against Russian and Iranian assets.

This edition of Beyond the Water’s Edge examines Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, its strategic impact on Iran’s nuclear program, evolving Iran-China ties, and what Washington must learn from this moment.

This edition of Beyond the Water’s Edge explores Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb, China-Qatar ties, Taiwan’s defense, and why U.S. policymakers must stay vigilant in deterring global threats and authoritarian expansion.

For the debut episode of “The Other Superpower,” we analyze the fast-evolving relationship between Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Though historically foes, these two nations have moved steadily closer over the last 20 years.

President Trump’s eventful trip to the Middle East marked the first major international visit of his second term, featuring stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Framing the visit as a break from the legacy of the so-called “nation-builders” he has long derided, President Trump returned to Washington

The support of the United States for liberty and human rights isn’t a problem that needs to be solved or a weakness in our relations with other nations. It’s an asset, and so understood by our enemies as well as our friends.

Reflecting on V-E Day’s legacy, this edition explores the enduring threat of authoritarian regimes, instability in Haiti, and U.S. strategic challenges with China, Russia, and Iran under Trump’s leadership.

Last week, The Vandenberg Coalition hosted a discussion with Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) as part of our Future of Conservative Foreign Policy series. Senator Banks, current member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and former Chairman of the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed

As the rogue Iranian regime charges forward in their quest to produce a nuclear weapon, the United States needs to respond with a tough and principled approach during the current negotiations. Repeating the same mistakes as the Obama Administration

President Trump is pursuing a deal with Iran while it is at its weakest strategic point in decades. Its proxies—Hamas and Hezbollah—have been decimated by Israel. Sunni states, like Saudi Arabia, are readying for normalization with the Jewish state

As tensions rise in the Taiwan Strait following China’s latest round of large-scale military exercises, questions surrounding Taiwan’s defense readiness and deterrence in the region are once again front and center. Beijing claims these drills are a “severe warning”

Since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 and Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has frequently been mentioned as a good candidate to govern Gaza when the war ends.

While China could grow its influence in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) over the course of the next four years, there are four principal reasons to cast doubt on this emerging narrative, at least in the short to medium term.

Emboldened by its patron, Iran, Houthi drone and missile attacks have disrupted international shipping in the Red Sea since November 2023. In response, the Trump administration has launched a series of “decisive and powerful” airstrikes against the Houthis, with President Trump declaring that any future Houthi attack will be treated as an attack

The independence of the Dalai Lama’s country has not survived, but his leadership has ensured that its people, culture, and religion have remained visible—crying out against oppression, demanding attention, and seeking only peaceful support

The Arab plan adopted on a March 4 Summit in Cairo, which has no answer to the threat of Hamas, instead uses a hundred pages to take us back to pretty pictures of Arab architecture, nice charts and maps,

To America’s detriment, policy makers have neglected the challenges facing the U.S. Department of Defense. From the military recruitment crisis to persistently inadequate defense budgets, the Pentagon finds itself without…

On February 7-9 2025, the Vandenberg Coalition worked with award-winning polling company J.L. Partners to survey 1,017 registered voters on their views on the controversial Chinese app, TikTok. As Trump’s search for a deal continues, the American public’s views are clear:

Trump has wonderfully challenged the Arab view of Gaza as central to the “steadfastness” needed against the Zionist enemy, and he has rightly called it inhuman. In fact, he has jettisoned the view that the most important thing about Gaza is its role in the “two-state solution” that will produce a new sovereign state of Palestine alongside Israel. It’s fanciful, and very, very unlikely.

For two decades, what American policymakers have called “stability” has meant the preservation of the situation in which Gaza was entirely under Hamas control, Hezbollah dominated Lebanon,

The Vandenberg Coalition has been an active voice in favor of preserving American security since our founding in 2021. There is no greater national security threat than the Chinese Communist Party

The Vandenberg Coalition assembled a working group of Middle East experts to identify critical policy recommendations for the new administration to strengthen U.S. policy towards the Middle East and place that policy squarely in line with America’s interests.

Despite the high-minded and noble ideas upon which they were founded, multilateral institutions like the United Nations have been hijacked by actors adversarial to the United States, such as China, Russia, Iran, and terrorist organizations.

On Friday, January 10th, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for TikTok Inc. and ByteDance v. Merrick Garland. The Vandenberg Coalition is proud to have commissioned an amicus brief in support of the U.S. government’s effort against TikTok’s attempt to challenge

The right path forward for the new Trump administration is not to give in to Iranian and Houthi attacks by removing our troops from Iraq and Syria, nor by removing the U.S. Navy from international waters in the Middle East — the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab.

Jimmy Carter, who won the U.S. presidency in 1976 after serving one term as the governor of Georgia, brought an eclectic mix of experiences to office. He informed a foreign policy that fit no easy categorization.

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The Vandenberg Coalition is pleased to release the latest episode of “How to
Win.” In this series, we speak with national security experts about the
threats to America’s national defense