Analysis & Opinions

President Trump is off the hook. Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t. That seems a fair, concise reading of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, at least as summarized Sunday by Attorney General William Barr. Understandably, the first half of this formulation is getting the most attention right now, but the second half is equally important for America’s leaders and citizens to keep in mind in the months ahead.

Thirty years after the end of the Cold War, the world is once again polarized between two competing visions for how to organize society. On one side are countries such as the United States, which are founded on respect for the inviolable rights of the individual and governed by rule of law. On the other side are countries where state power is concentrated in the hands of a single person or clique, accountable only to itself and oiled by corruption.

The elections in Indonesia could signal a new chapter in the history of the country, claims Derwin Pereira. But whether Joko Widodo or Prabowo Subianto win, the country's history of political and religious pluralism will preclude any sharp turns towards instability.

When will Donald Trump cease to be President? The wide range of answers is telling, claims Niall Ferguson. But for those who would like to see the President impeached, a longer wait may be in store.

On December 4, British Prime Minister Theresa May launched five days of parliamentary debate on Brexit that will culminate in a December 11 vote on the divorce deal she negotiated with the European Union. Her government suffered the worst series of parliamentary defeats on a single day in 40 years, as Westminster sought control of the process and injected further uncertainty into the tumultuous endgame.

For weeks this fall, an ebullient President Trump traveled relentlessly to hold raise-the-rafters campaign rallies — sometimes three a day — in states where his presence was likely to help Republicans on the ballot.

But his mood apparently has changed as he has taken measure of the electoral backlash that voters delivered Nov. 6. With the certainty that the incoming Democratic House majority will go after his tax returns and investigate his actions, and the likelihood of additional indictments by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, Trump has retreated into a cocoon of bitterness and resentment, according to multiple administration sources.

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Executive Director of the Belfer Center's Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship, spoke with Germany's national public radio Deutschlandfunk about the midterm elections, the current political division in the United States and discussed implications for Donald Trump's presidency.

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Executive Director of the Belfer Center's Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship, spoke with Germany's National Public Radio Deutschlandfunk about the Nomination and Confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Liberal democracy and capitalism have been the two commanding political and economic ideas of Western history since the 19th century. Now, however, the fate of these once-galvanizing global principles is increasingly uncertain.

As the midterm elections approach, one thing is clear: Neither the Trump administration nor Congress has done enough to deter Russia and other hostile foreign powers from interfering in the U.S. democratic process.