Michael A. McFaul

2 weeks ago | michaelmcfaul.substack.com | Michael A. McFaul

I spent last week in Beijing. My primary purpose there was to speak at a conference on China in the New Global Context, hosted by the Stanford Center at Peking University (read more about SCPKU here). But I stayed on several extra days to meet with other academics, entrepreneurs, and students to discuss US-China relations in the second Trump administration. My main takeaway: Trump has been good for CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping. That was not the assessment I expected to hear.

2 weeks ago | michaelmcfaul.substack.com | Michael A. McFaul

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3 weeks ago | michaelmcfaul.substack.com | Michael A. McFaul

Judging by the shockingly small budget request for the State Department for the next fiscal year, President Trump does not seem to believe in diplomacy. In a future essay, I will write about the illogical and imprudent cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has now been merged with the Department of State.

3 weeks ago | michaelmcfaul.substack.com | Michael A. McFaul

Dear Friends and Colleagues,In April, I had a final, big push to finish my upcoming book, Autocrats vs Democrats. Given Trump’s consequential executive orders and policies, I had to update several key sections. That’s the difficulty of writing a book on current events—things change faster than books get published. I also decided to change the book’s subtitle to better reflect our new realities.

1 month ago | michaelmcfaul.substack.com | Michael A. McFaul

With U.S. support for Ukraine eroding under the new Trump administration, European support for Ukraine must grow. That greater support must include more economic pressure on Russia as a means to hasten the end of Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine. It must also include new resources for Ukraine. In this working paper, we suggest ideas for how to do both.