[Doyle McManus] Five things Trump could do to stop Russia’s meddling

Recently, the Pentagon’s cyberdefense commander was asked whether the government has done enough to protect the 2018 congressional election against Russian hacking. “We’re not where we need to be,” Adm. Mike Rogers told a Senate committee.　Rogers echoed warnings from other intelligence officials that Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to keep meddling in US and foreign elections until someone makes him stop.　“President Putin has clearly come to the conclusion that there’s little price to p

March 7, 2018

[The Baltimore Sun] Trump tariffs won’t bring back steel mills

If there’s any community that can feel the changes that have rocked the American steel industry over the decades, it’s Baltimore. What was once the single largest steel factory in the world, the giant Bethlehem Steel plant in Sparrows Point, is completely gone. Not even a shadow of this former ticket to the middle class for tens of thousands of Baltimoreans remains, and the warehousing, distribution and other businesses that have recently sprung up in its place, while welcome, provide nowhere ne

March 6, 2018

[Hal Brands] Xi may scare Asia back Into Washington’s orbit

One thing seems certain about Xi Jinping’s move to establish himself as China’s dictator for life: The bolder and more openly assertive foreign policy he has pursued since taking power five years ago is here to stay. The conventional wisdom is that the US, its Asian allies, and the broader international order are therefore in for a rough stretch, as China demands its place in the sun. 　What’s indisputable is that Xi’s approach to foreign affairs marks the culmination of a break with Deng Xiaopin

March 6, 2018

[Christopher Balding] Is China destined to dominate tech?

The digital world relies on data, and no one produces more of it than China’s 1.4 billion internet users. The vast wealth of information these users emit has helped Chinese tech companies become some of the world’s best, and led to speculation that China will inevitably dominate future technologies, such as artificial intelligence. But this is almost certainly mistaken. Data, it turns out, isn’t destiny.　Even in the digital age, data may have a declining utility. Tech companies already have mill

March 6, 2018

[Eli Lake] Why Trump is reluctant to escalate cyberwar

Leaders of the US intelligence community have no doubt that Russian trolls, bots and hackers are planning to meddle in the midterm elections this fall, and to date President Donald Trump has not instructed his cyber generals to hit back. 　This was the upshot of Senate testimony Tuesday from Adm. Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency and chief of US Cyber Command. He was repeating a warning voiced by intelligence community leaders earlier this month. Asked if he has been direc

March 5, 2018

[Katie Reid] I traded my smartphone for a flip phone; here’s why

On Tuesday, I traded in my iPhone for a flip phone. Well, technically, I got to keep the iPhone. But when I asked the Verizon employee if the iPhone would be deactivated after he was finished setting up my sturdy new Kyocera, he looked at me gravely and replied, “It’s already deactivated.”So, yeah, I still have it, but it’s “passed on,” so to speak.　I first had the urge to ditch my smartphone over a year ago, when I realized the first thing I did in the morning -- like, as soon as I opened my ey

March 5, 2018

[Lawrence Downes] Holy nonsense: The ‘godly’ side of Donald Trump

This week I went on a strange trip, a pilgrimage to a place where common words and assumptions were flipped upside down and backward, where my vision blurred and I felt an unseen force trying to make my brain go stupid.　I read “The Faith of Donald J. Trump,” just published. Its subtitle: “A Spiritual Biography.”　What the hell, you say. But no, it’s real, and reasonably hefty, at 375 pages.　Check the flap: The authors are David Brody, a reporter with the Christian Broadcasting Network, and Scott

March 5, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] Putin wants modern weapons, not a modern Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made clear his priorities for his next six-year presidential term: He spent about as much time talking about Russia’s new strategic weaponry as about all domestic policies put together.　Revanche and confrontation continue to drive Putin’s agenda. In the meantime, he appears to believe that Russia’s internal problems will largely fix themselves if he sets ambitious enough goals. Putin’s two-hour speech was designed to double as an annual state of the n

March 4, 2018

[Ana Palacio] Jean-Claude Juncker’s dangerous defense strategy

These days, there are just three events that bring together all of the main actors in international politics: the annual General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly, G-20 summits, and the Munich Security Conference. That makes it all the more disappointing that the latest MSC, which took place in mid-February, brought only one big idea – and not a good one.The MSC has long been a place not just to see and be seen, but also to hear and be heard. Yet, at this year’s meeting, what was not

March 4, 2018

[Tim Duy] Trump’s trade policies could work against fiscal stimulus

The US government has set the stage for an economic experiment with its large, late-cycle fiscal stimulus, but the Trump administration’s trade agenda threatens to undermine the process as soon as it begins.　Tax cuts and spending increases are projected to fuel an ill-advised federal budget deficit for 2019 in excess of $1 trillion. With the economy operating near full employment, the extra impetus from deficit spending could cause inflation to overheat. The Federal Reserve would respond with a

March 4, 2018

[Ann McFeatters] Trump hands out jobs like mints to loyal friends

Hope Hicks, a former model who handled public relations for Ivanka Trump’s purses and shoes, is now Donald Trump’s longest-serving top aide, attending top-level White House decision-making meetings and crafting communications policy.　She testified to Congress this week that she sometimes has been required to tell “white lies” as part of her job. The next day, she said she was resigning.　Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law trying to figure out how to pay a balloon payment on a building he b

March 4, 2018

[Noah Smith] Maybe cities don’t need tech hubs to succeed

There’s a standard playbook for reviving cities by turning them into technology clusters. But not every town can become the next Silicon Valley, or Robot City, or biotech mecca.　Minneapolis has shown that there is another way.　Cities such as Raleigh, San Diego and Pittsburgh have all followed a similar model: Build around a top-ranked research university; bring together elites from government, business, and academia; facilitate the sharing of ideas among campus labs, startups, and big companies;

March 2, 2018