Category: Intel

Throughout much of America, the housing market is cratering, thanks to ever-higher interest rates. Fears of recession are in the air, too. And as is the case during all economic downturns, middle-class African Americans are at risk of being particularly hard-hit. In the wake of the last recession, in 2008, the wealth gap between middle-class… Continue reading To Help African Americans Gain Generational Wealth, Look to the Housing Market

The Arctic Council in March suspended cooperation with Russia in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Seven of the eight council members—Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States—resumed limited activities on projects not involving Russia, but the interruption marked the first time that broader Arctic cooperation has been paused. The war… Continue reading Arctic Governance Is in Trouble. The Antarctic Could Be Next

This week, we discuss the racial wealth gap and potential solutions to address it; China’s global basing ambitions; why long COVID could lead to a “mass disability event”; a decline in opioid disorder treatment early in the pandemic; what prevents people of color from becoming and staying teachers; and three keys to rebuilding Ukraine after… Continue reading The Racial Wealth Gap, the Effects of Long COVID, Teacher Diversity: RAND Weekly Recap

Gun violence occurs at higher rates in the United States than in other developed countries. And in the years since COVID-19 upended much of daily life, gun injuries and deaths have risen sharply. While mass shootings get the bulk of media attention, most fatalities are the results of suicide, homicide, and accidental shootings. In the… Continue reading Historic Research Conference Combats the Rise in Gun Violence

China may be using arms sales to strengthen alliances around the South China Sea and counter the United States’ regional alliances. China combines its arms exports with the provision of security contractors to countries where it has infrastructure and security interests. Beijing’s security relationships around the South China Sea could be a harbinger of what… Continue reading How China Is Building Influence Through Arms Sales

Fretting over your 401(k) lately? For all the current turbulence in these retirement plans – from their rocky recent market performance to asset managers’ politicization of their investments through the “environment, social and governance” agenda – the main problem lies in their flawed design decades ago, a range of retirement experts say.   They say… Continue reading Lost Retirement Horizon: Why 401(k)s Are Not OK (and Not Just Because of the Lousy Economy)

For U.S. policymakers, India’s relentless ambiguity about Russia’s war in Ukraine has been maddening. At the United Nations, India has voted to abstain on nearly every resolution condemning Russian aggression. In other multilateral venues, such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or Quad)—which consists of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States—New Delhi refuses to even… Continue reading India Upholds the Rules-Based Liberal International Order—But in Its Own Way

On 18 November, Kim Jong-un introduced his daughter, Ju-ae—most likely the very child that basketball player Dennis Rodman mentioned having met during his 2013 trip to North Korea—to domestic and international audiences. Kim, in proper DPRK fashion, chose his daughter’s public debut to coincide with a test-firing of his country’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). North… Continue reading North Korea’s Version of ‘Take Your Daughter to Work Day’

The U.S. Department of Defense is increasingly focused on “gray zone” competition with other great powers, striving to deter aggression while also avoiding escalation to full-scale war. When U.S. warships find themselves in a confrontation with Chinese vessels in the South China Sea, or U.S. ground vehicles in Syria are rammed by Russian armored cars,… Continue reading Nonlethal Weapons Can Play a Growing Role in U.S. Defense