FAST THINKING: Mars, with Chinese characteristics Fast Thinking by Atlantic Council
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It’s a Red Planet traffic jam. This weekend China announced that its rover, Zhurong, had touched down on Mars a massive step forward for the country’s space aspirations. The US rover program, which recently launched a helicopter over Mars, is considered more advanced. But Zhurong, which boasts an impressive ground-penetrating radar that will search for water, is a sign of China’s growing sophistication in space. What does this mean for the great-power space race? What are the military implications? Our space experts phoned home with the answers.
FAST THINKING: How bad will Israeli-Palestinian violence get? Fast Thinking by Atlantic Council
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A new conflict has erupted on an old battleground. Israeli bombings of the Gaza Strip intensified today, following Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. It’s the worst outbreak of violence there in at least seven years and has left dozens dead, mostly in Gaza. The attacks follow weeks of tensions at the al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, and efforts by Israel to remove longtime Palestinian residents from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Protests in that neighborhood have now evolved into solidarity protests and rioting in cities and towns across Israel. Is an all-out war brewing? What does this mean for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s future? What role will regional and global powers now play in the confrontation? From Washington to Jerusalem, our e
FAST THINKING: How to stop the next pipeline hack Fast Thinking by Atlantic Council
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Ransomware is rampant. The biggest fuel pipeline in the United States was shut down in recent days after hackers stole some one hundred gigabytes of data from Colonial Pipeline and threatened to release it unless the company paid up. The hack has been tied to an Eastern European (and possibly Russia-based) collective known as DarkSide, and US President Joe Biden has said that Russia bears some responsibility for the hack, even though the attack does not appear to have been state-sponsored. How can companies fight back against this rising trend of ransomware attacks? What can the Biden administration do? And what will this mean for the prices you pay at the pump? Our experts are here to fill you in, free of charge.
FAST THINKING: Trump’s post-Facebook future Fast Thinking by Atlantic Council
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The verdict: Back to you, Facebook. The company’s Oversight Board ruled Wednesday that former US President Donald Trump will remain banned from the platform for encouraging the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. But the board a group of twenty activists, lawyers, and journalists appointed by the company said Facebook was wrong to institute an “indefinite” suspension and called on the company to decide on a better-defined penalty within six months. So what should we make of the decision? And what consequences is it likely to have on online radicalization and the use and abuse of social media around the world? Our experts from the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab break it all down.
FAST THINKING: Biden’s challenge to China and Congress Fast Thinking by Atlantic Council
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The United States stands at an “inflection point.” That’s how President Joe Biden described an array of challenges at home and abroad during a speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday to mark one hundred whirlwind days in office. To a socially distanced hall of masked dignitaries, Biden staked out ambitious domestic plans and placed them in the frame of broader competition with China to “win the 21st century.” What does his laser-focus on China mean for the world’s most important international relationship? What did we learn about where Bidenomics is headed? Can he tackle the crisis at the southern border? Our experts are here to assess the key takeaways.