The initial estimates of damage from the wildfire on Maui last month suggest it will cost $5.5 billion to rebuild just the town of Lahaina. But that is certain to be too low, and not just because construction costs in Hawaii are about 20% above the national average. When one house burns down, it's relatively simple to estimate the cost of building a new one. But the math on disaster…
There are many reasons why the political future of Taiwan Strait relations is uncertain, but the military considerations for Taiwan are much more straightforward. Taiwan should invest in capabilities that are highly survivable and potent against a potential attack from mainland China. That is the only productive direction for Taiwan's military. Unfortunately, it is a path not being taken because much of Taiwan's defense budget is locked-in to capabilities that…
The outcome of Russia's war on Ukraine and the provisions of a final settlement are as yet unknown. Ukraine may prevail in pushing Russia back to the 1991 borders, as President Zelenskyy intends. The conflict might result in a settlement with a divided Ukraine, both countries exhausted from the effort. It could grind on for years as a bloody war of attrition. The Russian effort could collapse, unexpectedly. More certain…
What makes the current situation in Israel so fascinating to an American observer are the parallels between what is happening in Israel and what is happening in the United States. Both countries are deeply divided, socially and politically. Uncompromising partisanship has hollowed out the political center. Comity in political discourse has been replaced by the demonization of political opponents and increasingly bellicose rhetoric. The terms “treason” and “tyranny” appear frequently.…
For a town of barely 13,000 people, Athens, Texas, is not shy about putting itself on the map. It calls itself the black-eyed pea capital of the world. It claims the hamburger was born in a little café on its courthouse square. And its school district proudly proclaims itself the “Home of the 4-Day Instructional Week.” That last one resonates across rural America. In recent years, hundreds of small school…
U.S. President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in August held a trailblazing trilateral summit. The summit's particular focus was on countering military threats in East Asia, and it hailed “a new era of trilateral partnership” in which the three countries “are determined to align our collective efforts because we believe our trilateral partnership advances the security and prosperity of all our people,…
Fifteen months after the tragedy in Uvalde, many school districts in Texas and around the country are working with their local police departments to place more police officers inside schools. These officers—mostly known as school resource officers—will arrive at a fraught time. Just a few years ago, after George Floyd's murder, many districts ended their school resource officer programs in the wake of a backlash to policing in schools. The…
If world leaders learn only one lesson from the war in Ukraine, it should be that the ability to rapidly innovate—to invent, adopt, and effectively integrate new technologies—can have profound implications for combat outcomes. Outgunned and outnumbered, Ukrainians took a page from the U.S. playbook and turned to technology to gain an advantage over the adversary. They deftly adopted Starlink satellite communications, turned commercial drones into flying bombs, and, quickly…
The recent White House announcement that it would send cluster munitions to Ukraine was met with both criticism and applause. The administration defended its decision, noting that Russia has been using these munitions to attack Ukraine and that Kyiv has been asking for these munitions for self-defense purposes. They have now begun to arrive. The decision has unsurprisingly proved divisive. The typically conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal…