Author: Op-Ed

The inclusion of filmmaker Brett Ratner on an official United States trade delegation to Beijing in May exposed a profound structural breakdown in how digital news organizations analyze executive authority and elite political networks. Ratner, whose career sharply declined after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct in 2017, secured a seat on Air Force One alongside prominent technology and finance executives. The presence of the filmmaker was reportedly to scout locations for Rush Hour 4, a franchise revival supported by Donald Trump following a major entertainment industry merger involving Paramount Skydance. Such an integration of a controversial figure...

Corporate greed and Republican policy orchestrated the greatest transfer of wealth in modern history under the guise of exporting democracy to China. For decades, Western elites aggressively promoted the illusion that opening consumer markets would inevitably force political liberalization in Beijing. James Mann identified that foundational deception in his 2007 book The China Fantasy: Why Capitalism Will Not Bring Democracy to China, standing as the sole mainstream voice warning against the baseless assumption that economic expansion equated to human rights improvements. The prevailing consensus actively suppressed and ignored his analysis, preferring a manufactured narrative that justified the abandonment of...

Donald Trump’s May 2026 summit in Beijing represents a watershed moment in the decline of American strategic credibility, marking a voluntary retreat from the Indo-Pacific driven by a purely transactional foreign policy. By treating decades of foundational security alliances as mere liquid assets, Trump did not negotiate from a position of strength. Instead, he handed Xi Jinping the structural parity Beijing has sought for generations. Trump’s eagerness to swap concrete geopolitical leverage for ephemeral economic promises exposed his profound failure to comprehend the long-term mechanics of global power. While congressional enablers attempt to reframe the capitulation as a masterclass...

Americans like to see themselves as a nation defined by opportunity, innovation, and the promise of a better future. Yet it is hard to ignore the mounting evidence that, in practice, many Americans undermine the youngest members of society at every turn. From the appalling detention of immigrant children at the border to the lack of support for public schools, from inadequate lunch program funding to the refusal to enact even the most modest gun safety measures, these realities suggest a troubling truth that is inconvenient to admit. There is a sizable portion of American society that holds American...