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 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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