Birthdays are worth celebrating—especially America’s. This is why since January, The Vandenberg Coalition has published a series of videos commemorating the anniversaries of, and extracting lessons from, landmark documents and speeches in U.S. foreign policy history. The first three installments—Senator Arthur Vandenberg’s “Speech Heard ‘Round The World,” George Kennan’s Long Telegram, and the Truman Doctrine Speech—offer a roadmap from the beginning of the Cold War for formulating a strategy to triumph over today’s daunting foreign policy challenges....

Trump and Xi recently met for a high-stakes summit — With conflict in the Middle East and simmering trade tensions, the backdrop for the meeting was intense. In addition, China has been increasing repression of religious leaders and democratic activists, while also ramping up support for America’s adversaries and malign influence campaigns inside the American homeland. Michael Sobolik, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and Vandenberg Coalition Advisory Board member, joins Vandenberg Flash Focus to discuss the key takeaways from the summit and what comes next.

Qatar’s Deepening Persecution of the Baha’i — TVC Chairman Elliott Abrams | Council on Foreign Relations | May 22, 2026

Whatever explains the timing, these discriminatory and repressive actions by the Qatari regime are indefensible. These attacks on the small and law-abiding Baha’i community are victimizing people who have committed no crimes and seek only to live in peace and worship freely. This campaign by the Qatari regime deserves condemnation by the United States government and by all Americans who value freedom of religion.

For Communist Cuba, the Clock Is Ticking — Mike Watson | The Washington Free Beacon | May 23, 2026

Capitalizing on Cuba's weakness could result in major achievements for Trump. Ushering out the Communists would thrill significant portions of his base, particularly the right-leaning Latin American voters who despise socialism. It would also devastate the global left, which prizes irritating or threatening Americans more than improving the lives of the global poor and thus has adored Cuba since Fidel Castro seized power nearly 70 years ago. Even an agreement that leaves the regime in place but opens more opportunities for Cubans and kicks out our adversaries would still greatly enhance U.S. national security.

Made in America, Owned by Beijing: China’s Quiet Infiltration of U.S. General Aviation — Rep. Pat Harrigan | Washington Examiner | May 26, 2026

The planes on our tarmacs look American, but in too many cases, the ownership, and the intelligence benefits, flow directly to Beijing. Congress must close the subsidiary loophole and broaden the scope of existing investment screening tools to include civilian aerospace industries. If the parent company is designated as a Chinese military entity, its American subsidiaries should face the same restrictions on access to sensitive supply chains, American data, and government assistance.

Middle East & Gulf

Michael Allen: (media) 'Decreasing Number of Options' on Iran

Behnam Ben Taleblu & Mark Dubowitz: Evaluating the Damage to Iran’s Ballistic Missile Arsenal

Behnam Ben Taleblu: (with Saeed Ghasseminejad) Iranian Oil Exports Nosedive After U.S. Blockade Begins | (media) ‘Deal Isn’t Done Despite the Hype’ | (media) Where Are We in the Iranian Negotiations? | (media) U.S. Must ‘Flip the Script’ and ‘Empower’ Iranian People Against Regime | (media) U.S. Ready To Resume Strikes if Iran Talks Fail

Mark Dubowitz: (with Miad Maleki) Trump Needs To Shut Down This Key Iranian Transit Artery — ASAP

Amb. Eric Edelman, Reuel Marc Gerecht, & Ray Takeyh: Iran’s New ‘Nuclear’ Weapon

Richard Goldberg: (media) Tense Talks in Qatar on Ending the War in Iran

Rebeccah Heinrichs: (media) Iran Accused of Not Negotiating in Good Faith As Tensions Explode During Ceasefire | (media) Mideast Awaits Trump’s ‘Critical’ Next Move As U.S.-Iran Negotiations Fail

Mick Mulroy: (media) Iran Seems To Have No Intent To Reopen Strait of Hormuz | (media) Are Iran Peace Negotiations Breaking Down Amid New U.S. Strikes?

Mark Montgomery: (media) Trump: Netanyahu Will Do ‘Whatever I Want Him To Do’ With Iran

Richard Outzen: Lessons From Iran War: Cheap, Smart Weapons End Era of Decisive Victories

Danielle Pletka: (with Brett Schaefer) The U.N. Still Refuses to Police Itself | (media) Is It Time for the U.S. To Reassess Its Iran Strategy?

Sec. Robert Wilkie: (media) U.S. Must ‘Finish This Militarily’ With Iran

—————

Defense & Homeland Security

Elliott Abrams: Congress Checks Out

Kari Bingen: (et al) (event) Warfighting and War Winning in Space

Amb. Eric Edelman & Franklin Miller: (et al) Trump’s Nuclear Review

—————

China & Indo-Pacific

Aaron Friedberg: (with Bill Kristol) (podcast) Fallout from the China Summit

Anne Lord: (radio) Taiwan’s Critical Importance to the Global Economy

Clifford May: Trump Should Distrust and Verify Xi After Beijing Summit

Michael Singh: Is Iran America’s Suez Crisis? Not to Xi Jinping

—————

Europe & Russia

Rebeccah Heinrichs: Trump’s Negotiators Should Travel to Ukraine

Mark Montgomery: (with John Hardie) Ukraine Now Has the ‘Cards,’ the U.S. Must Force Putin To Make Concessions

—————

Western Hemisphere

Carrie Filipeti & Clifford May: (with Connor Pfeiffer) (podcast) ¿Cuba Libre?

Scott Greytak: (with Tom Firestone) FEPA’s First Test: Protecting American Companies Returning to Venezuela

Amb. Nathan Sales: (podcast) What's Changed In Venezuela And Where Things Are Headed

—————

Economic Power & Trade

Mackenzie Eaglen: (with Benjamin Jensen) Revisiting the Relationship Between Economic and Sea Power

Forwarded this email by a friend? If you would like to subscribe to receive Beyond the Water's Edge each week, click here. Follow us on X at @VandenbergCo below.