News reports indicate that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu sought the national legislature’s backing for a possible military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to turn back a coup that toppled the government of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum. An ECOWAS intervention would have a better chance of succeeding if other nations joined… Continue reading ECOWAS: In Need of Help in Niger?
Tag: Intel
Five Charts That Tell Us About the State of Public Education Right Now
A lot happens every year in U.S. public schools, and it can be hard to keep track of it all. To monitor trends in public education, the RAND Corporation fields over a dozen surveys annually to teachers, principals, and superintendents who are members of the American Educator Panels. These five charts taught us the most… Continue reading Five Charts That Tell Us About the State of Public Education Right Now
Pandemics Don’t Really End—They Echo
The public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic officially ended on May 11, 2023. It was a purely administrative step. Viruses do not answer to government decrees. Reported numbers were declining, but then started coming up again during the summer. By August, hospital admissions climbed to more than 10,000 a week. This was nowhere… Continue reading Pandemics Don’t Really End—They Echo
China Ponders Russia’s Logistical Challenges in the Ukraine War
A saying attributed to General Omar Bradley notes that “amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.” Any attempt by China to use military force to seize Taiwan would be an immense logistical undertaking requiring moving large quantities of troops and materiel across the Taiwan Strait. What then, are Chinese observers learning from the logistical realm of… Continue reading China Ponders Russia’s Logistical Challenges in the Ukraine War
A Trilateral Summit to Deal with Trilateral Threats
U.S. President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in August held a trailblazing trilateral summit. The summit’s particular focus was on countering military threats in East Asia, and it hailed “a new era of trilateral partnership” in which the three countries “are determined to align our collective efforts… Continue reading A Trilateral Summit to Deal with Trilateral Threats
A Potential Alternative for Regulating Internet-Based Platform Services
Centralized policy may help soften deceptively predatory aspects of Internet-platform services. The use of internet-based platform services like Amazon, DoorDash, and Uber Eats is increasing and can be helpful. But the companies that offer these services may be engaging in predatory practices that can harm users and local businesses. State and local governments have tried… Continue reading A Potential Alternative for Regulating Internet-Based Platform Services
A Four-Day School Week? Here Are the Costs and Benefits
For a town of barely 13,000 people, Athens, Texas, is not shy about putting itself on the map. It calls itself the black-eyed pea capital of the world. It claims the hamburger was born in a little café on its courthouse square. And its school district proudly proclaims itself the “Home of the 4-Day Instructional… Continue reading A Four-Day School Week? Here Are the Costs and Benefits
Money, Markets, and Machine Learning: Unpacking the Risks of Adversarial AI
It is impossible to ignore the critical role that artificial intelligence (AI) and its subset, machine learning, play in the stock market today. While AI refers to machines that can perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence, machine learning (ML) involves learning patterns from data, which enhances the machines’ ability to make predictions and… Continue reading Money, Markets, and Machine Learning: Unpacking the Risks of Adversarial AI
The State of Public Education, the Opioid Crisis, Defending Taiwan: RAND Weekly Recap
This week, we discuss the trends shaping public education in America; expanding access to nonopioid alternatives for pain management; a historic trilateral summit at Camp David; emerging technologies that could help defend Taiwan; how climate information can help stormwater managers better protect their communities from flooding; and the rise in mental health care spending since… Continue reading The State of Public Education, the Opioid Crisis, Defending Taiwan: RAND Weekly Recap
A Winnable War
More than a century ago, Europe was convulsed by World War I, pitting the Allies—led by Britain, France, Russia, and eventually the United States—against the Central Powers, led by imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary. In the west, fighting occurred along a 440-mile front that stretched from the English Channel to the Franco-Swiss border. Much of this… Continue reading A Winnable War