The military balance around Taiwan is shifting toward Beijing. Chinese missiles threaten to cripple U.S. theater airpower at the outset of conflict. New powered barges can land heavy armor on unprepared coasts. Together, these capabilities create a sequence that begins with missile salvos against American aircraft and ends with Chinese armor supplied across a beachhead. The September parade displayed the barges, drones, and strike missiles; a detailed study in International Security explained how they would be employed and what they could achieve.

The American economy is defined not only by what it produces but by what it attracts. Foreign capital enters its markets, industries, and neighborhoods with a scale that is both sustaining and destabilizing.

President Trump’s recent executive order directing the Defense Department to expand the National Guard’s role in law enforcement carries echoes that are hard to ignore. The New York Times reports that the order establishes specialized Guard units in all 50 states and in Washington, D.C., tasked with quelling “civil disturbances.”

Crises are often described as moments of rupture, when the ordinary patterns of life and governance are suspended. Yet beneath this surface, crises perform a deeper function. They accelerate long-term projects by suspending ordinary scrutiny and compressing political time. What appears as a temporary emergency becomes, in practice, a mechanism for transformation.

Patterns are often easier to see from a distance. When I look at the arc leading to the Alaska meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, certain threads stand out. The first is the absence of leverage.

The hastily arranged summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the remote setting of Alaska represents a significant and jarring departure from the established rhythms of international diplomacy.

The news from Washington this week has the texture of something already known to history. A president invoking little-used legal provisions to take control of a city’s police. Federal agents and National Guard troops on urban streets.

Deploying 700 Marines to guard two Los Angeles buildings, exceeding U.S. troops in Syria and Iraq, marks democracy’s weaponization for partisan gain, advancing careers over national defense.