By Alex Boutilier  Bruce Campion-Smith  In the months leading up to the federal election, many political observers in Ottawa thought immigration issues would figure prominently in the campaign. The Conservative opposition had spent months between 2017 and 2019 hammering the Liberal government on their handling of a spike …

Shawn Donnan Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. With the partial agreement with China that he announced Friday, President Donald Trump is back in dealmaker mode after months of escalation. That doesn’t mean, though, that the new …

Giancarlo Elia Valori   The Soviets called it “the shadow theatre”, i.e. the set of  psychological warfare techniques of the time, in the Cold War world.  Maskirovka, in particular, e.g. everything is camouflage, deception, real psychological warfare, disinformation. In fact, if we analyze the psywar techniques currently used, …

Paul R. Pillar Critics of the decision to withdraw seldom address the long-term question of how their recommended course of action ends. The vision seems to be a permanent U.S. protectorate of a Kurdish-controlled part of a still-divided Syria, with a never-ending American troop presence that doesn’t really …

Matthew Petti The Trump administration will neither support the Turkish operation in northern Syria nor opposite it with military force. It will simply sit back and watch the chaos unfold from afar. The Trump administration is working behind-the-scenes to mediate a ceasefire between Turkey and the Syrian Kurds, …

Giancarlo Elia Valori According to some international press and media sources, China is investing significant sums of money in some dual-use technologies – i.e. both civilian and military at the same time – which would have powerful innovative effects, both in the commercial and in the defence sectors. …

Hunter DeRenis The majority of House Democrats have already endorsed impeachment proceedings, along with former Republican Justin Amash. The news story may change, but the headline is always the same: impeachment. Support by Democratic Party leaders has reached a tipping point in support of the motion, stemming from …

Samuel Rines The Fed has become a borrower of first resort, rather than a lender of last resort. The Federal Reserve’s old moniker of “lender of last resort” is no longer relevant. Its policy of holding its federal funds rate above levels seen anywhere else in the developed …

Giancarlo Elia Valori The “blue” industry, especially the high range one, is one of the main development areas for the economy also in the near future. China, which has always tried to strike a balance between maritime power and terrestrial equilibria in the Heartland, is the right place …