Author: Mitchell A. Sobieski

Donald Trump announced a proposed $12 billion farm aid package on December 8, marketing it as a lifeline for agricultural producers battered by trade disruptions, inflation, and volatile global markets. But the central fact remains unavoidable: this crisis was manufactured by Trump himself, not Beijing. His administration’s own tariff policies destabilized commodity prices, crippled access to the Chinese market, and forced farmers into the same government-dependent posture they often claim to reject – giving handouts to help others. What the White House now frames as relief is more accurately a reimbursement for self-inflicted wounds, financed by taxpayers who had...

A century after the protectionist wave of the early 20th century reshaped global markets and contributed to geopolitical instability abroad, economists and historians say the United States may be entering another period in which domestic tariff decisions carry consequences far beyond the nation’s borders. The debate is unfolding at a moment when trade restrictions are framed as tools of leverage and economic strength, but analysts warn that the past shows how these choices can alter political trajectories in vulnerable regions long before the effects become visible to the public. The pattern is not new. During the 1920s, successive Republican...

When Russian troops crossed into Ukraine in February 2022, Vladimir Putin declared the moment would reshape the world order. The brutal dictator cast the invasion as an assertion of national strength — a stand against Western dominance and a bid to restore Moscow’s stature as a global power. Nearly four years later, that ambition has continued to backfire. Russia’s war has drained its economy, depleted its military, and forced it into an uneasy dependency on China, transforming what once was a strategic partnership into a relationship of subordination. Beijing now stands as Moscow’s economic lifeline, diplomatic shield, and technological...