The Atlantic

A Week Around the World With <i>The Atlantic</i>

The problem of Afghanistan, the fear of North Korea, and the State of the Union
Source: Omar Sobhani / Reuters

What We’re Writing

The problem of Afghanistan: A devastating terrorist attack in Kabul killed 95 people last week. This has highlighted the problems endemic to America’s longest war, which President Trump touched on in his State of the Union address. One of these problems is the fact that Afghanistan’s neighbor (and America’s sometimes-ally), Pakistan, has actively been undermining the U.S. military’s attempts to end the war there.  

The debate over whether America should deal a “bloody-nose” strike to North Korea as, based on the premise that North Korea is an offensive actor and will eventually strike the U.S. James Jeffrey that McMaster was correct in his thinking, while Mira Rapp-Hooper such a move would be a strategic and humanitarian disaster for the U.S. The presumptive nominee for U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Victor Cha, is for the post because he disagrees with the “bloody-nose” strike logic. And the military seems to be operating with the notion that the U.S. may go to war with North Korea at any time—Uri Friedman Senator Tammy Duckworth, who visited the Korean peninsula and said “the military has seen the writing on the wall.” But ?

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was
The Atlantic7 min readAmerican Government
The Americans Who Need Chaos
This is Work in Progress, a newsletter about work, technology, and how to solve some of America’s biggest problems. Sign up here. Several years ago, the political scientist Michael Bang Petersen, who is based in Denmark, wanted to understand why peop
The Atlantic4 min read
KitchenAid Did It Right 87 Years Ago
My KitchenAid stand mixer is older than I am. My dad bought the white-enameled machine 35 years ago, during a brief first marriage. The bits of batter crusted into its cracks could be from the pasta I made yesterday or from the bread he made then. I

Related Books & Audiobooks