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Hal Brands

Reporter · US

Indexed articles, last 90 days
8
Latest publication
Sep 28, 2026
Outlet visibility, for aei.org
Top 500K sites
Earliest in this view
Jul 13, 2026

Latest articles

  1. Article · Sep 28, 2026 · by Hal Brands

    Trump’s UN Bluster Didn’t Impress Xi, Putin or Iran (opens the original)

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    Donald Trump loves playing the tough guy. The president postured from the podium at the United Nations this week. He threatened to send the Iranian regime “into hell”; he gloated about his appropriation of Venezuelan oil, declaring, “to the victor belong the spoils.” But the leader who visited Trump two days later, China’s Xi Jinping, was presumably unimpressed. Bravado notwithstanding, Trump finds himself in a stalemate with China — and confronting a cast of committed rivals that refuse to yiel

  2. Article · Sep 16, 2026 · by Hal Brands

    The US Can Slow Down AI and Stay Ahead of China (opens the original)

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    When Chinese leader Xi Jinping visits Washington next week, artificial intelligence will be near the top of the agenda. The dialogue that the US and China began earlier this year has gained urgency as fears of out-of-control AI have spurred calls for a slowdown in innovation at the frontier. But as the US debate over AI regulation intensifies, consider this: A pause by American labs will be meaningful only if paired with Chinese restraint. The US faces a difficult choice about whether to seek th

  3. Article · Aug 7, 2026 · by Hal Brands

    The Autocratic Alliance Is Getting Even Stronger (opens the original)

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    Russia helps Iran target US bases in the Persian Gulf. Ukraine strikes an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea to disrupt strategic trade between Moscow and Tehran. Rumors abound that China is preparing to sell Iran air defenses and that North Korea may dispatch more troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine. Taken separately, these look like isolated incidents. Taken together, they reveal the thickening web of connections among US adversaries—and the contours of a dangerous world full of interl

  4. Article · Aug 5, 2026 · by Hal Brands

    America’s Superintelligence Dilemma (opens the original)

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    For years, experts have predicted that artificial intelligence would revolutionize world politics. History may record 2026 as the moment the revolution arrived. From the start of this year, continuous developments have underscored the possibilities and perils of the AI era, from the use of AI in U.S. military interventions to the emergence of AI cyberweapons that can significantly outperform human operators. “Loss of control” episodes—cases in which AI models escape human control and supervision

  5. Article · Aug 3, 2026 · by Hal Brands

    AI Is Now Power—and America’s Lead Is Shrinking (opens the original)

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    The AI age is getting very real. Not so long ago, the impacts of AI on politics, war and statecraft were still mostly hypothetical. Today, they’re arriving with jarring force and speed. In January, US forces kicked down the door of the Venezuelan despot Nicolás Maduro in a daring, AI-assisted raid. In February and March, the US and Israel used AI-powered targeting and intelligence tools to orchestrate a high-intensity blitz against Iran. With spring came the Mythos moment — the emergence of Anth

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