Jens Stoltenberg

Biden fears escalation; this plays into the hands of Putin, the former KGB operative, who exploits the West’s moral weakness with both cunning and barbarism.

Long-time neutrals Sweden and Finland appear poised to apply for NATO membership, perhaps as early as this month or during next month’s NATO summit. If these Nordic neighbors do join the alliance, this dramatic change in the European security landscape will be good for them—and for NATO.

President Joe Biden’s China policy is coming into focus. As some of us predicted before his inauguration, he appears to be continuing the previous administration’s hard-line stance with Beijing—suggesting that the COVID-19 crisis marks a turning point akin to how the communist bloc’s attempt to seize West Berlin and South Korea solidified bipartisan commitment to waging the Cold War.

As President-elect Joe Biden pivots to the all-important work of governing, those of us who teach and write about foreign policy are pivoting to the less-important work of forecasting how a Biden administration might steer the ship of state.

After years of wishful thinking, America and its allies in the Indo-Pacific are returning, finally, to what President Franklin Roosevelt called “armed defense of democratic existence.” Given Beijing’s actions both at home and abroad, one wonders what took them so long.

As NATO has expanded and with less clarity on concrete enemies, allies have grown further apart.

What does NATO need to do going forward? The short answer: more and less.