Sportswashing: A masterstroke of foreign influence operations (Video) | Responsible Statecraft

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Analysis | Washington Politics

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Sportswashing is the next frontier of foreign influence in the United States. Authoritarian regimes are investing billions of dollars in the sports that Americans love — from the NBA to WWE, UFC, and, the PGA Tour.

In many cases these investments come with strings attached. Foreign powers aren’t just trying to make money, they’re hoping to launder their reputations and censor their would-be critics in the U.S. This can have potentially dire consequences for Washington foreign policy, given that many of these regimes seek to pull the agenda in a decidedly unrestrained direction via U.S. military entanglements.

(Video production by Khody Akhavi)

Analysis | Washington Politics

Trump Netanyahu

Top image credit: President Donald Trump hosts a bilateral dinner for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Monday, July 7, 2025, in the Blue Room. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

The signs for US Middle East retrenchment are increasingly glaring

A sneak peek at how Americans view Trump foreign policy so far

Washington Politics

Like domestic politics, American public opinion on foreign policy is extremely polarized and that is not likely to change soon as new polling from my team at the Institute for Global Affairs at Eurasia Group shows striking partisan splits on the top Trump issues of the day.

Among the most partisan findings: 44% of Americans support attacks on drug cartels in Latin America, even if they are unauthorized by Congress, while 42% opposed. Breaking down on party lines, 79% of GOP respondents support such strikes, while 73% of Democrats are against them.

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Read this Evangelical Zionist leader’s leaked suspense novel

Top image credit: Dr. Mike Evans with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2023 (Creative Commons license)

Read this Evangelical Zionist leader’s leaked suspense novel

Writing a novel is a vulnerable experience. After months or years of work, many authors come to view their book as an extension of themselves. So when a writer starts looking for a fresh pair of eyes, it can be hard to decide who to trust. But for Evangelical pastor and Trump adviser Mike Evans, the choice was simple: just ask the Israeli government.

Leaked emails reveal that, back in 2018, Evans sought help from Israeli officials on his new novel about an all-out war on Israel, masterminded by a rogues’ gallery of Iran, Hamas, ISIS, and, to a lesser extent, the media. The outline that Evans shared offers a unique look into the thinking of an informal Trump adviser, as well as the Israeli reserve colonel who edited the story (and seemingly received about $1,150 for his troubles).

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Marco Rubio

Top image credit: Secretary Marco Rubio arrives in Panama City, Panama, February 1, 2025. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)

Death knell for the Summit of the Americas?

The government of the Dominican Republic has announced that the X Summit of the Americas (SOA), scheduled to be held in Punta Cana on December 4-5, has been postponed. This is the first time an SOA has been postponed.

There is no reason to think that the conditions for holding such a meeting will be better three or six months from now so it’s more likely the summit will be canceled. If so, this might very well ring the death knell of the SOAs, precisely at a time when they are more needed than ever, given the deep differences cutting across the hemisphere.

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