America will have to contend with war, disorder, and climate change around the world in the coming year (and longer).
For this reason, as we look ahead to 2023, humility is in order. Indeed, the true sign of foreign policy expertise is knowing how much you do not know. But that should not and must not stop us from assessing looming risks so that we may both prepare for them and seek to defuse them.
Looking at the underlying trends driving many of these conflicts and other areas of concern for policymakers, therecent piece “Visualizing 2023: Trends to Watch” provides useful context. It includes snapshot analyses of global and regional drivers of events like food price inflation, China’s military build-up in the Asia-Pacific region, shifting relations between India and Russia, a brain drain in Nigeria, and deepening political divides in the U.S.
It is my view, cognizant of the risks cited in these other reports and the demands on senior officials in the U.S. government, that the following issues are the flashpoints and potential flashpoints they are most likely to have to deal with in the year ahead.US President Joe Biden and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky walk to the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022.Ensuring the U.S.
The Chinese will continue to conduct military operations in the area. Taiwan will seek to build up its forces. The U.S. will help Taiwan.