Earlier this year, American officials acknowledged that US offensive cyber operations had stopped Russian disruption of the 2018 congressional election. Such operations are rarely discussed, but this time there was commentary about a new offensive doctrine of “persistent engagement” with potential adversaries. Will it work?

The Trump administration has begun applying military pressure on China, not only in traditional areas of friction such as the South China Sea and Taiwan, but using arms control. Recent American withdrawal from the US-Russia INF Treaty may be part of a strategy to draw China into a potential new nuclear agreement.

Maritime legal controversies in the South China Sea are not as bad as they are often characterized. However, divides are exacerbated by American unwillingness to accept international standards such as the UN Law of the Sea — and made worse by the Eurocentric bias of current international law, which has long ignored Asian cultures and traditions.

Recent US Navy drills in the South China Sea invited old friends like Japan and the Philippines, but also new partners like India. An expanded US military presence in these disputed waters is part of America’s “Indo-Pacific Strategy” to block Chinese military expansion — and perhaps to apply pressure during ongoing trade talks.

As Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election approaches, both the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the opposition Kuomintang Party (KMT) face divisive, close-fought primary battles among multiple candidates. Growing political volatility in Taiwan poses a major threat to Washington’s cautious balancing between Taipei and Beijing.

In an echo of the Arab Spring of 2011, societal earthquakes in Algeria and Sudan shocked North Africa, ousting strongmen who had ruled for decades. The fallen presidents’ fate reveals the importance of the military in Arab societies and the central role of economic development as the foundation of political stability.

In the contested South China Sea, there are increasing concerns about public agendas fueled by private interests. The structures of Albert del Rosario's think-tank and its many bedfellows are a case in point.

Despite rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, Tsai has not rushed to seek independence, while the mainland has maintained its patient policy. Thus no crisis has yet emerged — still, Taiwan, mainland China, and the US should all strive to relax tension and resume peaceful cross-strait development to avoid a new cold war.

As it wrestles with Brexit, Britain is recommitting itself militarily to the Asia-Pacific, where it once had numerous colonies and today has key trading partners. But the UK’s naval actions, part of an effort to assert itself as “Global Britain,” may serve to rankle China and the broader region.

Economic clout shifting to emerging economies, combined with great power peace, have begun to challenge the United States’ alliance strategy: for many longtime allies, the military aspect of national interest no longer comes first.