The new US National Security Strategy is not, in any meaningful sense, a strategy. A strategy connects means to achievable ends. What President Donald Trump’s White House published last week is something else: a 33-page confession that this administration does not believe in the future – and therefore sees no point in investing in it.

Last week, the Trump administration released its new national security strategy. It was quickly condemned by the neoconservatives — perhaps because it is more realistic about multipolarity.

The success of the Manhattan Project was the result of specific historical conditions. Its model of concentrating resources to achieve a single technological breakthrough doesn’t fit the characteristics and competitive landscape of the AI era.

Negotiations on Ukraine’s peace plan reveal more than technical differences. They show a calculation by all parties related to the cost of war, the capacity to endure over time and the sequencing of strategic priorities.

China and the U.S. must avoid both the Thucydides trap and the Cold War trap. This is not only in their strategic interest but also that of other countries in the region and around the world. Both sides must make major efforts jointly and in a sustained manner.

Advanced technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and quantum computing, have emerged at the heart of most nations’ national strategic planning. China also developed national plans for technological breakthroughs. However, unlike most other countries, China’s current plans are heavily influenced by unprecedented US export curbs on acquiring technology. These steep and targeted export curbs are intended to prevent China from acquiring high technologies to maintain the US monopoly. They started during the first term of US President Donald Trump (2017-2021), continued during the Biden administration, and intensified since Trump’s second term.

The fragile ceasefire in Gaza reflects accelerating recalibration in the Middle East, as U.S. military maneuvers are giving way to economic development promoted by the Arab states, China and the Global South.

Recent developments warrant a senior China-U.S. dialogue regarding Afghanistan, beginning with the upcoming meeting between the Chinese and U.S. presidents in Seoul.

The Trump administration’s emphasis has shifted toward homeland security and the security of the Western Hemisphere. At the same time its deeply contradictory and confused mindset on Taiwan is dangerous and could lead the military astray.

The Philippines is strengthening defense ties with the United States at a time of escalating US-China rivalry. Manila aims to mitigate power asymmetry, while China’s response to its maritime neighbor reflects a deep distrust of alliances and wary of invaders which came by sea.