Council on Foreign Relations

"Boko Haram and its affiliates’ decades-long campaign to impose a Shariarist theocracy on Nigeria has entailed infinitely more abductions and gorier killings," argues expert Ebenezer Obadare.

"After more than 12 years in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces a painful reality check: His promise to modernize India’s economy hasn’t panned out. Instead, the country faces a rapidly weakening rupee, dwindling net foreign investment, and worries that artificial intelligence will take a wrecking ball to the information technology industry," writes CFR expert Sadanand Dhume for the Wall Street Journal.

In CFR's new interactive map, expert Zongyuan Zoe Liu tracks China’s global economic expansion through investments in 194 such projects worldwide:

“The question of what kind of world the United States should now try to shape for its own best interests will be open for debate. Indeed, some foreign policy experts are already calling for a full ‘zero-based review’ of U.S. goals and strategy after Trump leaves office,” writes expert Paul B. Stares. “If strategy is essentially about defining practical ways and means to achieve desired ends, then any such exercise has to begin with a clear-eyed evaluation of U.S. interests and objectives in the world. Too often, what are in reality goals of choice assume the status of goals of necessity,” he writes. “Too much is at stake for the United States to drift along without a clear sense of how best to secure its interests in the world.” Read more at the link in the comments.

“Surges of policy activism have almost always been triggered by some sort of shock, such as the launch of Sputnik in 1957, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, or the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Each incident produced a new consensus on the need for a more ambitious strategy, sustained by more resources and more risk-taking,” writes expert Stephen Sestanovich.  “The Trump presidency itself could prove to be the biggest shock of all, an experience that future policymakers may argue shows the need to restore previous relationships and institutions.” “Whatever its focus, whether trade or terrorism or territory, one thing about a period of strategic activism is all but certain: as the costs of activism increase, so do its critics, and so does pressure for change. Like activism, strategic downsizing can come in different forms, each with its own script for how to scale back American interests abroad. In the decade ahead, efforts to reshape U.S. foreign policy are likely to look at four different (but overlapping) ways of downsizing it—by making it less ideological, less global, less bloody and expensive, or less unilateral,” he writes. Read more at the link in the comments.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio conducted a 4-day visit to India in May, holding talks on energy security, trade, defense, emerging technologies, and more. The trip comes after a deterioration of ties between the U.S. and India trade tensions, renewed engagement with Pakistan, and an energy crisis triggered by the Iran war. Explore the U.S.-India relationship in our timeline:

A rare strain of Ebola went undetected for several weeks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spread to Uganda—and is raising concerns about regional and global authorities’ ability to effectively respond, expert Michelle Gavin argues. The U.S. Agency for International Development, which was closed in 2025, "funded the people who actually had on-the-ground networks and knowledge," she writes. "The United States’ eyes and ears on the ground—and its knowledge of how to get things done locally—have disappeared."

“We are creating judgments and polarizing the ways that we see. And AI, in many ways, narrows the view by which we see those things, because we are getting very quick answers versus a plethora of answers,” says Jennifer Louie, AI Trust and Safety Global Advisor for the UN Development Programme, at CFR’s annual Religion and Foreign Policy Workshop. The event brings together various leaders, scholars, and representatives for conversations on the intersection of faith and global affairs. Watch the full conversation: https://lnkd.in/ek9_7jW2

"I think the G7 more or less has to be less open to China until China's more open to the world," says CFR expert Brad Setser on why Chinese President Xi Jinping has no incentive to change China's export-driven growth model and what the G7 could do about it. Watch the latest episode of The Spillover hosted by Sebastian Mallaby and Rebecca Patterson: https://lnkd.in/eqnzd2Mz

“I’m a homer, right? I mean, America First, that’s why we call it that. And I have been able to spend a lot of time domestically over the past few months going to factories,” says U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer. “Trade is not just, hey, we’re seeking for efficiencies wherever we can get it and we’re going to try to allocate capital, blah, blah, blah. It really drives home that these are people, these are families, and these are communities that are anchored by a lot of the economic activity that we’re trying to accomplish here.”