Spencer Bokat-Lindell

Is There Any End to the Ukraine War in Sight?

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, many observers expected that Russia’s military would make quick work of President Vladimir Putin’s mission: ​​to capture the country’s capital, Kyiv, depose its democratically elected government and restore Ukraine to Moscow’s control. But nearly six months…

After the Jan. 6 Hearings, Will Trump Face Criminal Charges?

Last week, the chair of the bipartisan House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, Bennie Thompson, opened the committee’s televised hearings by assigning moral responsibility to former President Donald Trump for “a sprawling, multi-step conspiracy” to overturn the presidential election…

How Worried Should You Be About Monkeypox?

On May 22, when President Biden described the global outbreak of monkeypox, a close but less lethal relative of smallpox, as a phenomenon that “everybody should be concerned about,” 109 cases had been confirmed in 14 countries outside those where the virus typically circulates, including the United…

The Pandemic Still Isn’t Over. So What Now?

In March 2020, just weeks after the pandemic had been declared and the world cast into crisis, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, went on CNN to prepare Americans for what he thought was the worst-case scenario. With about just 125,000 confirmed cases in the country at…

Is a Recession the Only Way to Stop Inflation?

On Tuesday, news broke that inflation continued to worsen in March, as consumer prices rose by 8.5 percent from a year earlier, the sharpest increase since 1981. While so-called core inflation — which strips out the volatile prices of fuel and food, both of which have surged because of Russia’s…

Will the Ukraine War Spell the End of Globalization?

In a letter to shareholders last week, Larry Fink, the chief executive of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company, issued a striking warning about a shift he perceived in the global economic order. Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine had compelled governments and private companies…

How Will the Ukraine War End?

As Ukrainian forces continued to hold off Russian advances on Kyiv, President Biden traveled to Brussels on Wednesday for an emergency meeting with other NATO leaders to discuss how to respond to Russia’s assault and help the 3 million Ukrainians who have fled the country. Almost a month in, the…

Omicron Is a Mystery. How Should We Prepare?

For every Greek-lettered incarnation of the coronavirus that alters the course of the pandemic, like the Delta variant, there is another that falls into epidemiological obscurity, and countless more that prove too insignificant to name. But scientists and world leaders have reacted more swiftly…

Is a Red Wave Coming for Biden’s Presidency?

The Republican Party, you may have heard by now, has a lot of news to celebrate after last week’s elections. In Virginia, a state that President Biden won by 10 points last year, it took back the governor’s mansion, a feat it hadn’t managed in over a decade. Republicans also came within striking…

The Global Vaccine Drive Is Failing. Can It Be Saved?

On Monday night, The Washington Post reported that President Biden next week will host a virtual summit at which he plans to call on world leaders to recommit to ending the coronavirus pandemic, chiefly by vaccinating 70 percent of the global population by next September. Those leaders have…