What Caught My Eye (no. 6)

Some interesting articles and podcasts that caught my eye this week

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Here’s this week’s edition of articles that I thought worth reading and sharing. Don’t hesitate to recommend your own reads; I may include some as well.

• JD Vance, Remarks at the Munich Security Conference, February 14, 2025. The Vice President explains to a stunt audience in Munich that Europe is threatened not by Russia or China, but by the “threat from within.”

• Jane Perlez, Face-Off: The US vs China, Season 2. Award-winning journalist Jane Perlez hosts the second season of Face-Off, a penetrating look at US-China relations with experts in the field. The first episode aired February 11.

• Daron Acemoglu, The real threat to American prosperity, Financial Times, February 8, 2025. A Noble-winning economist looks back from 2050 to explain what went wrong with America in the 2020s.

• Nahal Toosi and Robbie Gramer, How spending $153M to pay its bills put USAID in DOGE’s crosshairs, Politico, February 8, 2025. An incisive look at home Elon Musk’s Doge-brigade dismantled USAID in a matter of days. And the serious consequences these shortsighted actions will have for millions of people the agency served.

• Trump’s First Days In Office, New York Times (updated daily). In the effort to flood the zone, it is sometime hard to keep up with what the Trump administration is doing. The Times provides a useful update of all important actions.

• Maureen Dowd, Musk’s Lost Boys and Trump’s Mean Girls, New York Times, February 9, 2025. The Times’s sharpest pen predicts a Trump bot may run for election in 2028, courtesy of Elon Musk and AI.

• Brain Spegele, Jason Douglas, Yoko Kubota, China’s Xi Is Building Economic Fortress Against U.S. Pressure, Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2025. A useful reminder that in trade, as in all other social actions, the other side has a vote. China has sought to reduce its vulnerability to tariffs and sanctions by developing the keys to growth internallly.

Finally, in case you missed it here are links to articles I wrote, interviews I did, and a synopsis of my weekly podcast on world news.

• It’s a Coup, Not a Crisis, February 10, 2025.

• Will Trump Sell Out Ukraine?, February 12, 2025

• A New Tranastlantic Bargain: The Case for Building a Strong European Pillar, February 2025. Report by a Task Force I cochaired with Camille Grand and Daniela Schwarzer.

• All in With Chris Haynes, MSNBC, February 12, 2025. An interview about Trump’s call with Putin.

• Are Trump and Putin deciding Ukraine's fate without Zelenskyy's input? Power Play CTV, February 12, 2025.

• World Review: Leaders Meet in Munich to Discuss NATO and Ukraine, February 14, 2025. Vance’s bombshell and what it means for US-European relations, with Steven Erlanger and Stefan Kornelius.

Happy reading and listening!