Beyond the Water's Edge


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- Beyond the Water's Edge -

Vandenberg Flash Focus

The Report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights at Five Years

After the Reagan administration, the issue of human rights has come to be captured and dominated by the left, with it now being seen as largely synonymous with progressive policy preferences rather than the fundamental rights that align with our founding principles. Some on the right are now highly skeptical of whether human rights as an issue can be salvaged. Yet this month marks the fifth anniversary of an important document that thoughtfully regrounds human rights within our nation’s founding principles and national interests: The Report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights. Peter Berkowitz, Executive Secretary of the Commission, Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Vandenberg Advisory Board member, joins to discuss the legacy of this critical report at this milestone anniversary, as well as the role of human rights in U.S. foreign policy today more broadly.

Honest Candor

Trump Just Handed China the Tools to Beat America in AI

TVC Governance Board Member Matt Pottinger & Liza Tobin | The Free Press | August 11, 2025

Bottom Line: AI leadership will determine who controls the global economy, deters or wins wars, and sets the rules for the 21st century. We shouldn’t hand our adversaries the tools to beat us. President Trump should immediately halt all H20 sales to China, block Nvidia’s Blackwell and future China-specific chips, and persist in closing loopholes that let China make, buy, or access advanced AI chips.

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Hunger in Gaza Has Many Authors, but Israel Isn’t One of Them

Marc Thiessen | The Washington Post | August 7, 2025

Bottom Line: Far from deliberate starvation in Gaza, Israel is doing something no nation has ever done, or even been expected to do: Feed the population of the aggressor force that attacked it while the war is still going on. Hamas fights on because it clearly doesn’t care about the suffering of the people of Gaza. Indeed, the suffering is central to Hamas’s strategy of survival, which is to weaponize images of Palestinian misery to build international pressure on Israel to stop its military campaign before Hamas is destroyed.

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China Has an Arctic Strategy. America Needs One, Too

Ilan Berman | Newsweek | August 6, 2025

Bottom Line: One place where great power competition hasn't yet kicked off in earnest is the Arctic. U.S. attention to the Arctic hasn't kept pace with that of China, which issues its official Arctic strategy in 2018. The stakes for the United States to catch up are massive because the region is strategically vital for a range of military, economic, and geopolitical reasons.

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Recognizing Palestine Won’t Help Gaza

Lawrence Haas | The National Interest | August 5, 2025

Bottom Line: So, next month, France, Britain, and Canada will join the nearly 150 other nations that already have recognized a Palestinian state. And then? The Palestinian Authority will still run the West Bank. An emboldened Hamas will still run Gaza. The people of Gaza will remain under the thumb of a tyrannical force that promises only more war and bloodshed. And the leaders of France, Britain, and Canada will take pride in their delusional platitudes.

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TVC Commentary and Media

Israel & the Middle East

Elliott Abrams: (podcast) OUTRAGE As More Countries Recognize ‘Palestine’…What Does It Mean?

Mark Dubowitz: (with Bradley Bowman) (podcast) American Military and Political Power and the Iran File | (media) Israel Cabinet Approves Takeover of Gaza City

Mark Dubowitz & Reuel Marc Gerecht: (podcast) American Intelligence and Information Power V. Iran

Rebeccah Heinrichs: (media) Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Says Plan Is to Free, Not Occupy Gaza

Mark Montgomery: (media) ‘Collateral Damage’ to Hostages Is Possible With Israel’s Occupation of Gaza

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Defense & Homeland Security

Kari Bingen: (with Tom Karako & Heather Williams) (event) Nukes in Space: Myths, Realities, and Consequences

Zack Cooper: (with Melanie Marlowe & Christopher Preble) (podcast) What’s the Plan for AI?

Mackenzie Eaglen: America’s Munitions Crisis Is Real

Carrie Filipetti: (with Jonathan Schanzer) (media) FDD Morning Brief

Matthew Kroenig: Trump’s State Department Reforms Are Necessary

Mark Montgomery: (media) The Threats We Face & How We Win | (with Leah Siskind) White House’s AI Action Plan Fails to Say Who Will Do the Work

Mark Montgomery & Craig Singleton: (with Jack Burnham) Section 232 National Security Investigation of Imports of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Their Parts and Components

Danielle Pletka: (with Brett Schaefer) Russia Cannot Be Trusted to Police Civil Aviation at the UN

Dan Runde: Trump’s G20 Presidency Could Supercharge Digital Payment Solutions

Kelly Ann Shaw: (media) North American Trade Relationship in a ‘Rough Patch’

Amb. Kristen Silverberg & Roger Zakheim: (podcast) Inside the Business Roundtable: Where Business Meets Policy

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Indo-Pacific

Joseph Bosco: The ‘Art of the Deal’ Author Keeps Getting Out-Negotiated by Putin and Xi

Victor Cha: (media) What’s at Stake If Trump Meets Kim

Zack Cooper: (radio) Washington Bars U.S. Officials From Australia Defence Talks

Zack Cooper & Danielle Pletka: (with Marc Thiessen) (podcast) “Tides of Fortune: The Rise and Decline of Great Militaries”

Amb. Kelley Currie: (media) SE Asia: PRC supremacy

Lisa Curtis: (media) Trump Against India | (media) Trump’s Tariff Threat vs. Modi’s ‘No Compromise’ on Farmers

Clifford May & Mark Montgomery: (podcast) On the Road Again – in Japan and Taiwan

Mark Montgomery: Taiwan Prepares for China’s Next Move

Mark Montgomery & Craig Singleton: (with Joe Dougherty) (event) Findings and Takeaways From FDD’s Recent Delegation Visit to Taiwan

Matt Pottinger: (media) America’s Losing the AI Race to China

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Europe & Eurasia

Rebeccah Heinrichs: (media) We’re Hopeful Trump Can Get Some Firm Concessions From Putin

Seth Jones: (et al) The Hard Truth About Ukraine Peace Talks

Clifford May: Vladimir the Terrible

Mark Montgomery: (media) Potential Trump-Putin Summit | (media) Trump, Putin to Hold First Meeting Since Ukraine Invasion

Nate Sibley: Six Steps to Sanction Russia’s War Economy

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Western Hemisphere

R. Evan Ellis: Costa Rica: Strategic Fragility in a Key U.S. Partner

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