Publications

US Space Strategy Can’t Rely on SpaceX Alone

October 13, 2025 Emma Gargiulo The National Interest

The question is no longer whether SpaceX can deliver payloads into orbit; it is whether America’s present, profound dependence on this company could be politically weaponized in the future. The simmering summer-long feud between President Trump and Musk, which largely stemmed from the latter’s objections to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and which saw access to SpaceX used as a key bargaining chip, suggests that the answer to this question is “yes.”

Armenia’s Strategic Dilemma: Geography versus History

October 13, 2025 Laura LindermanAlexander John Paul LutzEleanor Pugh Central Asia-Caucasus Institute

Armenia faces significant challenges to its political stability and geopolitical security as it attempts a high-stakes strategic pivot away from its traditional Russian security patron and toward the West—a reorientation driven not by choice but by necessity, as the country finds itself militarily inferior, diplomatically isolated, and abandoned by unreliable security guarantors.

China Policy Monitor No. 1648

October 13, 2025 Joshua Eisenman

China's new K visa for overseas STEM graduates sparks backlash;
China restricts exports of precision machine tools to Russia;
China to revitalize Tazara Railway;
China, U.S. strenghten cooperation after record drug seizure;
China's "breathtaking" nuclear buildup