Beyond the Water's Edge

The Vandenberg Coalition brings you weekly roundups of news media pieces displaying honest candor in the foreign policy space. 

Beyond the Water’s Edge October 25, 2023

A World Without American Deterrence | The Biden Administration Should Stop Funding America’s Enemies | Has Iran Compromised The Biden Administration? | Why the U.S. Must Break China’s Emerging “String of Pearls” in the Arabian Gulf | The Land That Geopolitics Forgot | Why Sending Ukraine ATACMs Will Help It Win in the Long Term

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Beyond the Water’s Edge October 11, 2023

SPECIAL EDITION: Israel Under Attack | The Hamas Attack Changes Everything | Israel War: Hamas Should No Longer Have a Safe Haven—Anywhere | Hamas Terrorists’ 21st-Century Pogrom | What Comes Next in Gaza | The Yom Kippur War’s Lessons for Ukraine—and Biden | Iran and Its Network of Nineteen Terrorist Organizations on Israel’s Borders

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Beyond the Water’s Edge October 4, 2023

Vandenberg Open Letter to Conservatives in Congress | Ukraine’s War of Drones Runs into an Obstacle: China | Iran Hostage Deal Has Nuclear Implications | Taiwan’s Big Stakes in Washington’s Budget Battles | Weakness is Lethal: Why Putin Invaded Ukraine and How the War Must End | The U.S. Government Should Stockpile More Critical Minerals

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Beyond the Water’s Edge September 27, 2023

New Series: Countering CCP Regional Influence

How China Uses Shipping for Surveillance and Control | The West Has a Massive Chinese Spy Problem | Avoid a Sequester and Fully Fund a Preeminent Military | With Russia Distracted in Ukraine, U.S. Reaches Out to Central Asia | U.S. and Israeli Policy Aligned Regarding Saudi Arabia | Strategic Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific: U.S. and Indian Perspectives | Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: What to Know About Nagorno-Karabakh

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Beyond the Water’s Edge September 13, 2023

Rethinking Geopolitics: Geography as an Aid to Statecraft | The U.S. Must Help Curb Cartel Violence in Mexico | Why the U.S.-Mexico Relationship Could Get Even Worse | Iranian Drone Proliferation is Scaling Up and Turning More Lethal | A Renewed Axis: Growing Military Cooperation Between North Korea and Russia

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Beyond the Water’s Edge September 6, 2023

Perseverance and Adaptation: Ukraine’s Counteroffensive at Three Months | By Skimping on the Budget for Competition with China, Washington Makes War More Likely | Rob Malley’s Legacy of Failure: Undermining American Interests in the Middle East | The China-India Border | Japan Fisheries Become China’s Newest Geopolitical Target

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Beyond the Water’s Edge August 30

Iran Will Continue Taking Hostages if the Money Keeps Flowing | Biden’s Asia Diplomacy is Incomplete | Attacking Foreign Corruption Blunts China’s Malign Economic Influence | Winning the Influence War Against China | America’s Military-Industrial Base Needs a Revival | A Compound Problem: Dialing in U.S. Semiconductor Strategy

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Beyond the Water’s Edge August 23, 2023

Ever Since the Afghanistan Withdrawal, Biden’s Foreign Policy Has Been One Big Mess | Iran-Russia Collaboration Makes a Mess of Biden’s Foreign Policy | The Aftermath of Biden’s Dishonorable Afghanistan Exit is Still Unfolding | You Go to War with the Industrial Base You Have, Not the Industrial Base You Want | In Tanzania, Beijing is Running a Training School for Authoritarianism | Why Taiwan’s Defense is in the American National Interest

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Beyond the Water’s Edge August 16, 2023

The Disastrous Implications of the $6 Billion Iran Hostage Deal | Closing Washington’s China Gap with Middle East Partners | NATO’s Northern Flank Has Too Many Weak Spots | Since the Pelosi Visit, China Has Created a New Normal in the Taiwan Strait | India Embraces America’s Vision for Outer Space

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Beyond the Water’s Edge August 9, 2023

Americans Are Not Embracing Isolationism | How the Ukraine Counteroffensive Can Still Succeed | If Ukraine Is Any Barometer of Expenditure Rates in Modern War, America is Gonna Lose Taiwan | Suit Against Tech Giant Shines Light on U.S. Complicity in Chinese Torture | The Wagner Group in Africa Serves Putin’s Global Ambitions

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Beyond the Water’s Edge August 2, 2023

Washington Must React Realistically to the Coup in Niger | Niger’s Coup is a West African Disaster in the Making | America’s Military Trails Russia and China in Race for the Melting Arctic | Italy Intends to Leave China’s Belt and Road Initiative | What We Learned from the Korean War

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Beyond the Water’s Edge July 26, 2023

America’s Reactive Foreign Policy | We Should Not Be Cavalier About Declining Public Confidence in the Military | The Long Shadow of Oppenheimer’s Trinity Test | Why You Should Care About the Afghanistan War Commission | Washington Lays Mines in Black Sea to Block Ukrainian Ports

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Beyond the Water’s Edge July 19, 2023

The Myth of Neutrality | Iran’s Shadow War | How America Can Escape China’s Rare Earth Pincer | How One U.S. Government Agency is Helping China Win the Tech Race | Understanding the Implications of No Black Sea Grain Deal

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Beyond the Water’s Edge July 12, 2023

On Foreign Policy, the New Populists are the Old Declinists | ‘NATO Lake’ Receives Major Boost | Two Options to Prevent the Next Invasion of Ukraine | Buying Power is the Invisible Shortfall of the 2024 Defense Budget Request | China, Latin America, and the New Space Race

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Beyond the Water’s Edge June 28, 2023

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment | Biden, Modi Hail New Era for US-India Ties and Tout Deals | President Raisi Visits Latin America | The Global South is Forging a New Foreign Policy in the Face of War in Ukraine, China-U.S. Tensions: Active Nonalignment | U.S. Influence in the Pacific Requires Congressional Action | The Netanyahu Invitation and West Bank Settlement Expansion

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Beyond the Water’s Edge June 21, 2023

To Prepare for War at Sea Over Taiwan, Look to the Land War in Ukraine | Time to Wean Ourselves from Chinese Semiconductors | China’s Real Military Budget is Far Bigger Than it Looks | Saudi Arabia, China Undermine U.S. Influence in the Middle East | How the U.S. is Pushing China Out of the Internet’s Plumbing

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Beyond the Water’s Edge June 14, 2023

Russia’s Improved Weaponry and Tactics Challenge Ukraine Offensive | History Repeats Itself: Cuba, China, and the New Cold War | U.S. Must Expose China’s Hidden Hand in America’s Deadly Fentanyl Crisis | Spend More on Defense? Let’s Focus on Spending Better | America’s Power Competition Goes Awry in Lula’s Brazil

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Beyond the Water’s Edge June 7, 2023

Early Stages of Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Appear to be Underway | Key Ukrainian Dam Blown Up, Kyiv Blames Russia | The Enemy Next Door | Thinking About Post-War Ukraine | What if Putin Loses the War in Ukraine? | Don’t Delay Ukraine’s Path to NATO Membership | Ukraine’s Survival is Vital to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan

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Beyond the Water’s Edge May 31, 2023

Memorial Day is More than Just the Start of Summer | China’s Latest Cyberattack is an Active Threat to Critical U.S. Infrastructure | Decoupling is Already Happening—Under the Sea | Decoding China’s Escalation of the Chip War | Hizbullah and Russia’s Nascent Alliance

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Beyond the Water’s Edge May 24, 2023

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment | Putin’s Accidental Restoration of NATO | Why Xi is Ghosting Biden | ‘In a Lot of the World, the Clock has Hit Midnight’ | Why is the Chinese Communist Party Educating Children in American Classrooms? | What a Debt Default Would Mean for National Security

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Beyond the Water’s Edge May 17, 2023

The Case for American Global Leadership | If China Targeted Canada’s Elections, America Must Act | Insulate, Curtail, Compete: Sketching a U.S. Grand Strategy in Latin America and the Caribbean | How Title 42’s Expiry Will Upend the Immigration System | The Pentagon Needs a Real Budget, Not Stop-Gap Solutions

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Beyond the Water’s Edge May 10, 2023

Reframing the U.S. Policy Debate on a ‘Long War’ in Ukraine | David vs. Goliath: Southeast Asia Can Resist China’s Gray Zone Aggression in the South China Sea…with Help | Xi Jinping Can’t Handle an Ageing China | Sudan’s Double Crises | How Sanctions Can Help Bring Home American Hostages | What Will Happen if China Blocks Black Sea Grain Ships?

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Beyond the Water’s Edge May 3, 2023

Great Powers Don’t Default | The Incomplete Evacuation of Sudan | Island Nations Key to Maintaining U.S. Position as a Pacific Power | U.S. Must Prepare for Chinese Sabotage | ‘Bleeding to Death’: The Russian Military Looks Stuck in Ukraine

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Beyond the Water’s Edge April 26, 2023

Companies Thought They Could Ignore Geopolitics. Not Anymore. | Jordan’s Threat to the Middle East Order | Ukraine Shows the Need for Speed | Why the U.S. is Losing the Race for the Arctic | China’s Proxy War Against Faith

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Beyond the Water’s Edge April 19, 2023

Defunding the Deadly Fentanyl Drug Trade | Back to the Future in U.S.-Mexico Relations | U.S. Defense Industry Plans First Trip to Taiwan in Four Years | The Imperative to See Food Security as Integral to Maritime Strategy | Prepare for Iran’s Nuclear Breakout | The State Department Should Provide Congress the Dissent Channel Cable on the Afghanistan Withdrawal

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Beyond the Water’s Edge April 12, 2023

Paying the Defense Bill: Financing American and Chinese Great Power Competition | Russia’s New National Security Concept | Biden’s Weakness on Russia’s Hostage-Taking Puts Americans Abroad at Risk | Macron Has Made a Fool of Himself in China | Taiwan Needs More than Weapons to Thwart China’s Ambitions

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Beyond the Water’s Edge April 5, 2023

The Future of the U.S.-China Nuclear Arms Race | All Talk, No Action on China | Biden Needs to Broaden Semiconductor Sanctions on China | An Arsenal of Democracies Can Best the China-Russia-Iran Axis | ‘Sinking Our Future’: Budget Cuts Funds to U.S. Navy as China Ramps Up Shipbuilding | Bitcoin and Geopolitical Rivalry

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Beyond the Water’s Edge March 29, 2023

Congress United Against Chinese Atrocities | U.S. Needs an Assertive Eurasia Strategy | In a New Cold War, Diplomacy Matters More Than Might | Xi and Putin Meeting Signals the Return of the China-Russia Axis and the Start of a Second Cold War | How Iran Won the Iraq War

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Beyond the Water’s Edge March 22, 2023

How the War in Iraq Changed the World | The Saudi-Iran Deal Reflects a New Global Reality | Defeat Putin, Defeat Xi | Little Giants, Single Champions: China’s Blueprint for Asymmetric Industrial Advantage | America Needs to Grow its Capacity to Produce Weapons

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Beyond the Water’s Edge March 15, 2023

They Make a Desert and Call it Peace | Biden’s Military Budget: Better Never Than Late | The Age of American Naval Dominance is Over | How Beijing Boxed America Out of the South China Sea | China’s Three Roads to Controlling Taiwan | The Black Sea

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Beyond the Water’s Edge March 8, 2023

GOP Gears Up for Afghanistan Probe | A United States-Pakistan Rapprochement? | Four Nuclear States Can Ruin Your Whole Strategy | Russia-China-South Africa Naval Exercises & Indian Ocean Geopolitics | Will Russia’s Global Influence Continue to Decline? | Waking Up to the Threat of the Chinese Communist Party: A Call to Action from Congress

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Beyond the Water’s Edge March 1, 2023

How Biden Missed a Chance to Use the State of the Union to Illuminate a Foreign Policy | Israel Must Prepare to Save the World from a Nuclear Iran | Confrontation with Russia and U.S. Grand Strategy | What Pentagon Leaders Say They Have Learned One Year On from the Battle in Ukraine | Lessons from Germany’s Visit to South America’s Lithium Triangle | Philippines Eyes South China Sea Patrols with U.S., Australia

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Beyond the Water’s Edge February 15, 2023

We Still Don’t Know the Truth About COVID | The New Warsaw Pact | How Moscow Bought a New Sphere of Influence on the Cheap | Russia’s New START Breach Means U.S. Nuclear Weapons Modernization is a Must | China’s Spy Balloon Could Be America’s Awakening

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Beyond the Water’s Edge February 8, 2023

Biden Bungles China Spy Balloon Challenge | America and China: Whose Timeline is it Anyway? | Global Energy Scarcity and the South China Sea | Minefield of Dreams: Finding the Critical Minerals Needed to Get to Net Zero | Who are the Real ‘Realists’ on Ukraine? | Tanking Up: Understanding the Materiel—and Moral—Implications of the New Armor Heading to Ukraine

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Beyond the Water’s Edge February 1, 2023

What Turkey Really Wants from Sweden | Protecting America’s Financial Assistance to Rebuild Ukraine | The New Word for the Western Strategy in Ukraine is ‘Scholzing’ | Gauging the Efficacy of Western Sanctions Against Ukraine | Why Russia’s War in Ukraine Today is So Different from a Year Ago

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Beyond the Water’s Edge January 25, 2023

If Women are the Taliban’s Kryptonite, Let’s Send Our Best and Brightest | Are the Sanctions on Russia Working? | Mike Gallagher’s China Challenge | Is there a Biden Doctrine | Stocking Ukraine Could Generate Foreign Military Sales

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Beyond the Water’s Edge January 11, 2023

Vandenberg Coalition Open Letter on the Origins of COVID-19 | Mexican Cartels’ War on Americans | Australia’s Contribution to AUKUS Should Be a Next Generation Conventional Submarine | How to Bankrupt Russia and Protect Our Supply Chains | U.S. Convincing U.K. to Approve F-16 Fighters to Argentina Amid Reports of Chinese Military Base in South America | Containing Isolationism

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Beyond the Water’s Edge December 21, 2022

Biden’s Venezuela Policy: Something for Nothing | Republicans Press Biden Official for Answers on TikTok Security Concerns | CCP Weapons of Mass Persuasion | Americans Are Losing Trust in the Military | Japan’s New Security Strategy: Rising to the Challenge | ‘Can We Actually Build It?’ Defense Industry Leaders Look Ahead to Uncertain 2023

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Beyond the Water’s Edge December 14, 2022

U.S. Support for Ukraine: The Reagan Doctrine in Action | The Merchant of Death Can Now Return to Business | Putin’s Eternal World | Disentangling the Digital Battlefield: How the Internet has Changed War | Mexican Cartels Have Turned to Fentanyl

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Beyond the Water’s Edge December 7, 2022

2023: A Year of Living Dangerously | America, China, and the Spirit of Enterprise | No, Iran Didn’t Ban Morality Police—It Duped Press and Biden Administration | Cardinal Zen’s Trial: More Oppression Than Meets the Eye | The Long-term Risks of a Premature Ceasefire in Ukraine | ‘We Haven’t Got This Figured Out Just Yet’: Pentagon, Industry Struggle to Arm Ukraine

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Beyond the Water’s Edge November 30, 2022

Within Our Borders: The CCP’s Silent Domestic Invasion | China is No. 1 Domestic National Security Threat and Biden Administration Won’t Admit It | How China is Trying to Turn the U.S. Against Itself | China’s Ally in Stealing Western IP: the United States | Espionage with Chinese Characteristics | U.S. Bans Gear from China’s Huawei and ZTE Over Security Risk | Incoming House Committee Chairs Accuse TikTok of Lying to Congress | The Drug That’s Killing Young Americans

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Beyond the Water’s Edge November 16, 2022

The Fight for the Future of Republican Foreign Policy | The Return of American Exceptionalism | White House Won’t Say How It Spent $1 Billion in Taliban Controlled Afghanistan | The U.S. Military is in Decline While China Grows More Powerful | South Korea to Sell Arms to U.S. for Ukrainian Forces Fighting Russia

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Beyond the Water’s Edge November 9, 2022

‘No Limits’: Xi’s Support for Putin Is Unwavering | Waltzing in Beijing, Germany’s Olaf Scholz Plays U.S. For a Fool | Iran’s Hardliners Are Starting to Crack | Putin Will Think Twice Before Nuking Ukraine | Yes, Banning U.S. Oil Exports is a Horrific Idea | Rising Inflation Forces Greater Attention on Food Insecurity in Africa

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Beyond the Water’s Edge October 26, 2022

American Voters Should Not Be Mistaken for Doves | We Cannot Let China Use Our ‘Tech Disconnect’ to Advance its ‘Rule by Law’ | Ten Myths About U.S. Aid to Ukraine | ‘Frustrated and Powerless’: In Fight with China for Global Influence, Diplomacy is America’s Biggest Weakness | The Dangers of Absolute Power

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Beyond the Water’s Edge Special Edition: Biden’s NSS | October 19, 2022

What Grade Does Biden’s National Security Strategy Get? | Biden’s Rather Rhetorical National Strategy | Why Biden’s National Security Strategy is Destined to Fail | Biden’s New National Security Strategy: A Lot of Trump, Very Little Obama | In U.S. Security Strategy, China ‘Only Competitor’, India Key Partner | Towards a Biden Doctrine: U.S. National Interest or Global Commitment

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Beyond the Water’s Edge October 12, 2022

Troubled Bridge Over Stolen Waters | Who Will Control the Black Sea? | The West Should Welcome the Middle Corridor | Death, Corruption, and Despair: The Darien Hell that Thousands of Venezuelans Cross Every Day to Reach the U.S. | Offshore Balancing: The British Analogy

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Beyond the Water’s Edge October 5, 2022

The Women Burning Hijabs Want the Iranian Regime to Fall. Does Joe Biden? | How Iran’s Protests Differ from Past Movements | On Ukraine | Why Arming America’s Allies is America’s Smartest, Safest Strategy | The American Public Thinks It’s Time to End China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations Status | Why Beijing is Allegedly Opening Police Stations on Canadian Soil

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