Experts in the News | Miller Center

At the Center of the Crossroads: A New U.S. Strategy for the East Med

The Eastern Mediterranean sits at the geographic and geostrategic nexus of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. This “sea between the lands” has become a crucial maritime connector for expansionist forces – including Turkey, Iran, Russia, China, and Islamist jihadists seeking to exert power from one of the surrounding regions to the next. At the same time, the Eastern Mediterranean itself is becoming an object of competition, its recently discovered undersea natural gas resources rendering a rich prize for whoever can discover, develop, and export them. In the face of these strategic developments, U.S. partners from around the region and beyond are trying to create new security arrangements to address this growing competition and maintain stability.

Eric Edelman

Painting the town red

UVA politics professor Jennifer Lawless agrees, saying that “Democrats need to focus on what they have delivered to everyday Americans.” “No politics is local,” Lawless says. “In recent decades, national issues have dominated local political agendas. National figures endorse and stump for local candidates. And money for state-level candidates floods in from national donors. Despite talking points to the contrary, that’s exactly what we saw this time around.”

Jennifer Lawless

The Era of Contested Elections is Here

However, in 1800, the House, which was dominated at the time by the Federalist Party, had run its own candidate for the presidential election in incumbent John Adams. As the winner of the election was determined, "there were threats of violence and talk of the Virginia or Pennsylvania militia's marching on the capital if Jefferson wasn't elected," according to Sidney Milkis of University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs.

Sidney Milkis

There is Nothing For You Here (with Fiona Hill)

Former National Security Council Senior Director for Europe (and star impeachment witness) Fiona Hill is this week's guest discussing her book, There is Nothing For You Here, her service in the Trump Administration, the mortification of Trump's press conference with Putin at Helsinki (and transient thoughts of faking a seizure to make it stop) as well as the causes of and remedies for authoritarian populism.

Eric Edelman

Future of Biden’s Legislative Agenda

"It's a question of confidence. Do the American people have confidence in this administration? Do they have confidence in this Congress to do the sorts of initiatives, to pass the sort of legislation that addresses their kitchen top needs?" @Ron_Christie on midterm obstacles.

Ron Christie

What Colin Powell's legacy meant for me as a Black Republican and public servant

When I was a boy, I remember President Ronald Reagan elevating Colin Powell to be his national security adviser and President George H.W. Bush selecting him to be the 12th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. What struck me then as now is that two Republicans had chosen a Black man to serve in the highest levels of the United States government. I wanted to know why this remarkable gentleman had chosen to join the Republican Party. Growing up in Northern California, I didn’t have a friend or family member who was a member of the GOP but there was Powell, a proud member of the party, doing amazing work for all of us. This struck me deeply and ultimately led me to join the party myself.

Ron Christie