Geopolitical Perspectives - WestExec Advisors

Dennis Ross writes with David Makovsky in Foreign Policy: “Benny Gantz Did the Right Thing by Putting His Country First”

"Israel will very likely have a new government soon. Benny Gantz made this possible by agreeing on March 26 to form a national unity government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Gantz’s critics have savaged him for doing so. They are outraged because, after the election, Gantz was in a relatively strong position. Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc had 58 seats, but the anti-Netanyahu bloc had 62—including 15 seats from the largely Arab Joint List. The Joint List’s leader, Ayman Odeh, made clear the [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:16:50-04:00April 7, 2020|Geopolitical Perspectives|

Julie Smith quoted in The New York Times article, “The Coronavirus Inflicts Its Own Kind of Terror”

"There is a similar sense of helplessness, however, said Julianne Smith, a former security adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and now at the German Marshall Fund. 'You don’t know when terrorism or the pandemic will strike, so it invades your personal life. With terror, you worry about being in crowds and rallies and sporting events. It’s the same with the virus — crowds spell danger...' "Unlike Sept. 11, 'when a single set of events united the country in [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:24:58-04:00April 6, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense, Geopolitical Perspectives|

Danny Russel writes with Wendy Cutler in Foreign Policy: “Could the Pandemic Ease U.S.-China Tensions?”

"As the coronavirus circles the globe, it’s proving a startling reminder of just how interconnected our world has become. The virus has moved along our global supply chains, and it can be stopped only with global cooperation. But the war of words between U.S. and Chinese officials last month shows how the pandemic can bring out the worst in the two countries. While the rhetoric has abated somewhat, there is now an opening for both nations to reverse course, and they [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:13:21-04:00April 6, 2020|Geopolitical Perspectives|

WestExec Partners, Principals, and Senior Advisors featured in the Wall Street Journal article, “U.S. Foreign-Policy Experts Call for Cooperation With China on Coronavirus”

"A large group of prominent American foreign-policy experts, including former high-ranking White House officials from both parties, is calling on the Trump administration to work more closely with China to stem the coronavirus epidemic..." Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:34:55-04:00April 3, 2020|Geopolitical Perspectives|

Matt Waxman co-hosts Lawfare’s The Cyber Law Podcast, “How Israel is Fighting the Coronavirus”

"We present a lightly edited interview about Israel’s technology- and surveillance-heavy approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. In it, Matthew Waxman, Liviu Librescu Professor of Law at Columbia University, and I talk to Yuval Shany, a noted Israeli human rights expert and professor at Hebrew University. We cover the particularly fraught political crisis that the virus exacerbated, the Israeli government’s use of counterterrorism tools to trace contacts of infected individuals, and the significance of locational privacy in the face of a deadly [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:30:08-04:00April 3, 2020|Geopolitical Perspectives|

Michael Camilleri writes in the Los Angeles Times: “Can Justice for Maduro Bring Peace to Venezuela?”

"On Tuesday, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo unveiled a detailed framework for restoring democracy in Venezuela that was immediately rejected by the man who would need to step aside for such a transition to occur: Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Perhaps this should not come as a surprise, given that just last week the U.S. Department of Justice charged Maduro with narco-terrorism and put a $15-million price on his head. "Many Venezuelans reacted with understandable satisfaction to the indictment of Maduro [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-03T09:48:31-04:00April 3, 2020|Geopolitical Perspectives|

Dan Shapiro interviewed on Pod Save the World

"We skip the update on the spread of the coronavirus itself and instead focus on the impact it’s having on governments and people. For example, 2019 was the year of the protestor, but how do protestors continue if they can’t gather safely or legally? How can we stop leaders from using the coronavirus to consolidate power, stifle the press or jettison privacy protections? And with the news that the virus has temporarily sidelined a US aircraft carrier, how do we refocus [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-03T10:01:18-04:00April 1, 2020|Geopolitical Perspectives|

Danny Russel quoted in the Wall Street Journal article, “Hidden Chinese Lending Puts Emerging-Market Economies at Risk”

"'The debt burden from these projects is very quickly going to become unsustainable for many, many, many countries,' said Danny Russel, the State Department’s top diplomat for East Asia affairs under President Obama. 'This is scary stuff...'" Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-03T10:03:12-04:00March 30, 2020|Geopolitical Perspectives|

Dan Shapiro quoted in the Wall Street Journal article, “Coronavirus and Autocrats: Never Let Pandemic Go to Waste”

"'In a moment of crisis, when people are fearful, they are looking to authorities to reassure them, and they are willing to give leaders additional tools to manage chaos and limit risk,' said Daniel Shapiro, a fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv and a former U.S. ambassador to Israel. 'The danger is that these tools that exceed the limits of the normal democratic system may not be returned after the crisis is over. That’s the balance [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-03T10:04:55-04:00March 28, 2020|Geopolitical Perspectives|

Julie Smith quoted in POLITICO article, “Coronavirus Rattles America’s National Security Priesthood”

"'Members of Congress have factories in their states and districts that produce these weapons. There are not a lot of members of Congress who can say "My state is going to be the pre-eminent producer for N95 masks,"' said Julie Smith, a former Obama administration official now with the German Marshall Fund..." Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-03T10:02:21-04:00March 28, 2020|Geopolitical Perspectives|