| Will the Khashoggi affair change the course of US-Saudi relations? Posted: 12 Oct 2018 02:01 PM PDT ![Will the Khashoggi affair change the course of US-Saudi relations?]( "Will the Khashoggi affair change the course of US-Saudi relations?") Ever since President Trump accepted the counsel of son-in-law and Middle East adviser Jared Kushner to make Saudi Arabia the first foreign trip of his presidency, it was clear that the kingdom was to be the linchpin of his administration's regional policy. From countering Iran and achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace to promoting sustainable reforms of rigid Arab societies, Saudi Arabia under its young crown prince (and de facto leader) Mohammed bin Salman would be Washington's go-to partner in the region. Now the Saudi strategy Mr. Kushner engineered has been rattled and indeed threatens to come crashing down.
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| How hurricane Michael could affect Florida’s high-stakes midterms Posted: 12 Oct 2018 12:49 PM PDT ![How hurricane Michael could affect Florida's high-stakes midterms]( "How hurricane Michael could affect Florida's high-stakes midterms") Indeed, it's not a reference to hurricane Michael, the Category 4 storm that slammed into the Florida Panhandle earlier this week and wrought devastation across the southeastern United States. Superstorm Sandy had just struck the New Jersey coast, and the state's then-governor, Republican Chris Christie, greeted a visiting President Barack Obama warmly. Six years later, on the eve of President Trump's first midterm elections, such bipartisan comity seems unimaginable.
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| With VPN clampdown, China’s firewall fills in its cracks Posted: 12 Oct 2018 10:49 AM PDT ![With VPN clampdown, China's firewall fills in its cracks]( "With VPN clampdown, China's firewall fills in its cracks") A chill wind whips down the walkways on the campus of Peking University, the selective academy that attracts China's best and brightest students. Strolling past the stone steps and upturned roof of the university library, a law student vents about how China's ruling Communist Party is tightening controls on information. "It's harder this year than last year" to bypass the firewall that government censors use to block thousands of blacklisted websites, says the student.
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| An end to the dollar's global hegemony? The Kremlin sees an opportunity. Posted: 12 Oct 2018 09:16 AM PDT ![An end to the dollar's global hegemony? The Kremlin sees an opportunity.]( "An end to the dollar's global hegemony? The Kremlin sees an opportunity.") For average Russians, a small personal hoard of US dollars has always represented a place of safety amid the wild ups-and-downs that continue to beset the country's national currency, the ruble. The Trump administration has increasingly worked to weaponize the US dollar, by using its hegemonic position as the world's "reserve currency" to punish any entity or country that attempts to defy proliferating unilateral US sanctions against Russia, Iran, and China. The idea might have sounded quixotic a decade or so ago, when Russia and China first started talking about it.
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