The Daily Brief
Essential Reading
Can ASEAN Be Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts? — The bloc's "all or none" mantra has never made decisive collective action easy.
Untangling the Web of Russia's Cyber Operations — Recent developments shed light on the apparent ties between Russia's security apparatus and the world's most sophisticated cybercriminals.
Iraq: Baghdad Names Basra the Economic Capital, in Important Concession — Baghdad hopes that by giving in to Basra, it can quell calls for another independent region.
Global Perspectives
Blurred Borders — On a map, the line between India and Myanmar is clear. Stratfor contributors Hoshner Reporter and Ambika Vishwanath show how on the ground, it is anything but.
Reflections
Parsing the Trump White House at 100 Days — The family comes first in setting the policy course, while the ideologues seem to be losing their voice.
Saturday marks the 100th day of U.S. President Donald Trump's term, a benchmark that has received perhaps undue attention. But the occasion can still serve as a useful milestone to review the direction of his administration's policy so far and explore the inevitable constraints that await those attempting to implement the president's vision. Newly elected presidents generally enter the White House accompanied by a political tailwind that allows them to prioritize a set of key issues and try to gain as much traction as possible before pockets of resistance are able to entrench. But Trump's political honeymoon was virtually nonexistent, and the next 100 days of his presidency point to even bigger challenges ahead.
Stratfor Graphic
Stratfor Video
Looking Ahead: Trump's Next 100 Days — Stratfor Asia-Pacific Analyst Evan Rees and Vice President of Global Analysis Reva Goujon discuss the foreign policy challenges facing the U.S. president in the months ahead.
Stratfor Talks
The French Election Results and Their Impact — Following the results of the first round of France’s presidential election on Sunday, April 23rd, Stratfor senior analysts sat down for a live webcast to examine the results and explore what’s ahead for France and the European Union as a whole. In addition to their discussion, they also took live questions from the online audience.
News You May Have Missed
- Hundreds of protesters stormed Macedonia's parliament after an ethnic Albanian lawmaker was elected speaker.
- A Russian surveillance ship and a freighter collided off Turkey's Black Sea coast, sinking the Russian ship, Turkish and Russian officials said.
- Two U.S. service members were killed overnight April 27 during an operation against Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, the Pentagon said.
- The European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) both chose to leave interest rates unchanged during separate meetings.
- Estonian Defense Minister Margus Tsahkna sad that Russia could use its upcoming Zapad joint military exercises with Belarus to permanently station thousands of Russian troops in Belarus.
- Ukraine and Poland have plans to jointly develop new helicopters for their militaries, Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv said.
- Venezuela will begin the process to quit the Organization of American States (OAS), Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said.
- The Palestinian Authority has told Israel it will stop paying for electricity supplied to the Gaza Strip, Israeli officials said.