Matt Peterson
The Making of a Trade Warrior
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer wants to limit China’s influence, even if he has to break the American-made economic order to do it.
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Christine Nesbitt/ AP Why the World Didn’t Fall Apart
Robert D. Kaplan’s “The Coming Anarchy” was a pessimistic masterpiece. But its bleak predictions didn’t all pan out.
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Lucas Jackson / Reuters How the Financial Crisis Still Drives American Politics
The economic historian Adam Tooze sees the consequences of 2008 everywhere.
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Alexander Zemlianichenko/ AP Hard Truths About Afghanistan, Courtesy of Moscow
A historical briefing on the legacy of the Soviet withdrawal
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Alexander Zemlianichenko / Reuters A Brief History of U.S.-Russian Missteps
Bill Burns revisits NATO enlargement and other stories from a relationship gone bad.
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Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP It’s Modi’s Moment to Seize
The Pakistan crisis gives the Indian prime minister the perfect chance to divide his opponents.
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Ahn Young-joon/ AP The Tortured History of a North Korean Peace Deal
America has long blocked truce talks, says the historian Bruce Cumings. Now Trump might be getting out of the two Koreas’ way.
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Guadalupe Pardo / Reuters One Man’s Poverty Budget, 40 Years Later
In 1977, the writer John Brooke itemized his annual budget. It wasn’t pretty, even by today’s standards.
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Baz Ratner / Reuters Congo’s Illusion of Stability
A tainted election reveals a lesson about the relationship between democracy and power.
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Joel Saget / Getty For Tim Wu, Breaking Up Facebook Is Just the Beginning
The legal reformer wants to bring back antitrust as the cornerstone of a new political philosophy.
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Nick Adams / Reuters 25 Years of Reefer Madness
Everything has changed since the drug war of the mid-’90s. And nothing has.
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Jon Gambrell/AP Pay No Attention to the Oilman Behind the Curtain
Riyadh has refined its control of oil production over the years. But that doesn’t mean it can embargo the United States again.
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Bilal Qabalan/AFP/Getty Images Pulling Back the Mask of Saudi Oil Power
Riyadh has refined its control of oil production over the years. But that doesn’t mean it can embargo the United States again.
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China News Service / Getty China’s New Environmental Story
Over 20-plus years, China has gone from ignoring pollution to taking center stage at climate talks. Here’s how that happened.
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Illustration: Justin Metz / Concept: Delcan & Co. The Fight for Love and Pleasure
Why are young Americans having a hard time getting down?
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Mendelsund / Munday Behind the Scenes with Kate Julian
The author of the “Sex Recession” sits down with The Masthead.
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Frank Augstein / AP Why Jeremy Corbyn Isn’t Fighting Brexit
Labour’s leader is focused instead on purging the party of Tony Blair’s legacy.
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Francois Mori / AP Taking Soros Seriously
The Masthead revisits George Soros’s 1997 Atlantic cover story
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Adam Rountree / AP Solving Public Transit’s Perpetual Crisis
While national programs stall, private projects move ahead.
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Caetano Barreira / Reuters Meet The Atlantic’s New Crossword-Puzzle Guru
Caleb Madison is innovating within a decades-old form.
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Mark Lennihan / AP Alexa Doesn’t Love You
It’s getting easier to become emotionally attached to a voice assistant. That’s a mixed blessing.
