The initiative will seek to answer the questions that go to the heart of American China strategy.

For many policymakers, economic sanctions have become the tool of choice to respond to major geopolitical challenges such as terrorism and conflict.

Hobbled by foreign interventions, political instability, and natural disasters, the former French colony is paralyzed by multiple crises.

The new defense treaty demonstrates a growing closeness between the two pariah states that is likely to make the rest of the world uneasy.