Frank Lavin

Jan 18, 2025 | forbes.com | Frank Lavin

The political leader most likely to undermine the second Trump administration is Donald Trump himself. His role as a candidate, including his stagecraft, rhetoric, and theatrics is often at variance with, or even harmful to, the role he must play to be a successful president.

Dec 31, 2024 | forbes.com | Frank Lavin

Although the precise details of the arrangement have not been made public, there has been considerable media coverage of North Korea’s dispatch of combat troops to Russia to support Vladimir Putin’s offensive in Ukraine. Less well-covered is the story of how South Korea is responding and how it is working with Ukraine. Let’s look at both countries’ involvement in this out-of-area war.

Dec 7, 2024 | forbes.com | Frank Lavin

President-elect Donald Trump is moving quickly to establish his cabinet and set an active pace for his new administration. His first term foreign policy was marked by several moves at variance with long-established U.S. foreign policy positions, such as publicly denigrating NATO and attaching tariffs to Chinese (and other) exports and we should assume that during this second term he will also embrace some contrarian views.

Nov 12, 2024 | thespectator.com | Daniel DePetris |Leon Mangasarian |Gavin Mortimer |Frank Lavin

What on earth is Donald Trump thinking? That’s what many realists and restrainers inside and out of Washington are asking themselves after news broke late last night that Marco Rubio, the senior senator from Florida, is set to be tapped as secretary of state in the next administration. The reactions haven’t been uniformly bad, mind you. Other candidates rumored to be under consideration, such as Vivek Ramaswamy, caused many in the US foreign policy elite to wretch in fear.

Nov 12, 2024 | thespectator.com | Gavin Mortimer |Lionel Shriver |Frank Lavin |Ben Domenech

European farmers have called for a day of protest in Brussels on Wednesday, forty-eight hours before the European Union is expected to sign the Mercosur trade deal. The agreement, which has taken two decades to negotiate, will give Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay access to EU markets. It will be good for the German car industry, and disastrous for European farmers, particularly smaller farms.