Council on Foreign Relations

“This is a book about intelligence,” writes @scmallaby in The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence, out now. In his new book, Mallaby, an international economics expert at CFR, profiles Demis Hassabis—the tech visionary behind Google DeepMind. “On the one hand, it’s a portrait of a remarkable human, a chess prodigy, a Nobel laureate, a polymathic thinker. On the other hand, it tells the story of his quest to build remarkable machines: systems that are intuitive, creative, and even original.”cfr.org/books/the-infi…

The United States and Iran announced on day 10 of a two-week ceasefire that the Strait of Hormuz had reopened, a promising sign of cooperation as questions loom over whether the countries will extend the truce. President Trump said that the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports would remain “in full force” until a peace deal is reached. cfr.org/articles/as-a-…

The Bay of Pigs invasion, a CIA plan to train Cuban exiles to overthrow the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, began 65 years ago today. The operation failed. "The Bay of Pigs was one of the biggest U.S. foreign policy fiascoes of the 20th century," writes expert @JamesMLindsay. "Kennedy was hardly the first president to hope for the best while failing to prepare for the worst. Nor was he the last." A CFR survey of historians ranked it as one of the worst foreign policy decisions in U.S. history. Read more: cfr.org/articles/the-b…

“[Ukrainians] actually crowdsourced the acquisition of a whole satellite,” says former intelligence officer Anthony Vinci, describing the ways in which civilians are reshaping modern warfare in Ukraine. Watch the latest episode of Why It Matters wherever you get your podcasts: on.cfr.org/4vsjtfE

What role should the United States play in a rapidly changing world? CFR convened bipartisan conversations with hundreds of Americans across the U.S. late last year. "Americans want the United States to lead, but to do so in ways that are disciplined and grounded in tangible benefits to their lives," expert @RebeccaLissner writes. Read more on the findings from those discussions: cfr.org/articles/ameri…

A 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon largely held overnight, raising hopes that regional tensions could cool. The truce, announced by President Trump yesterday, removes a critical obstacle to U.S.-Iran peace talks, as Tehran said any truce must also halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Read more and subscribe to the Daily News Brief: on.cfr.org/3QKddQs

Food weaponization is the manipulation of food access, infrastructure, or supplies to achieve economic, military, or political objectives. Experts say that in conflicts around the world, food weaponization has triggered humanitarian devastation, disrupted global food provisions, and directly threatened states’ national security. In this video, experts discuss the rise of food weaponization and propose 7 possible solutions to combat it. To learn more, visit CFR's interactive on the weaponization of hunger: on.cfr.org/4sDB1Tu

Questions abound over how the FIFA World Cup will play out both on and off the field as tensions simmer between the United States and several participating countries. Here's what to know: cfr.org/articles/the-u…

Claude Mythos, Anthropic’s new AI model, has taught itself to hack into software infrastructure systems believed to be among the most secure in history—with the company saying it's literally too powerful to release. It represents "an inflection point in the history of the AI industry and will be appropriately and continuously dissected in the time ahead," writes expert Gordon M. Goldstein. cfr.org/articles/six-r…

Food has increasingly become a deliberate tool of war. Whether in besieged farming communities in Sudan or in the destruction of grain siloes in Ukraine, it is targeted, strategic, and rarely punished. In conflicts around the world, food weaponization has triggered humanitarian devastation, disrupted food provisions, and directly threatened states’ national security. We mapped where it's occurring globally—and explain what it reveals about the world order: cfr.org/articles/the-w…

Pakistan said today it expects to host another round of U.S.-Iran peace talks, while the latest U.S. financial pressure on Iran sparked tensions with China. Read more and subscribe to the Daily News Brief: on.cfr.org/4cSVRsn

Kharg Island serves as Iran’s primary oil terminal, handling roughly 90% of the country’s crude exports. Recently, it has become a high-value target in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Here's what to know: cfr.org/articles/kharg…

"President Donald Trump has gone back and forth between threatening to end the Iranian civilization, seeking to uphold a fragile ceasefire, blockading the Strait of Hormuz, and negotiating with the Iranian regime," write experts @elisaewers44 and Ariane Tabatabai. The conflict has exposed how little pre-war analysis shaped the decisions that led to the U.S. military campaign—and why revisiting those assumptions is now essential before any serious reckoning about what comes next, they argue. cfr.org/articles/how-t…

The Infinity Machine, a new book by CFR expert @scmallaby, follows DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis and the quest for superintelligence. Out now: cfr.org/books/the-infi…

Thank you to @CFR_org President @MikeFroman for moderating a thoughtful discussion on cushioning the global energy shock. A timely conversation on how cooperation, sound policies, and solidarity can help protect the most vulnerable in a moment of profound uncertainty.

.@m2matthijs’s career has spanned academia and think tanks. He sat down with CFR to discuss the benefits of observing European politics from afar, the importance of remaining open-minded in your career, and conducting dissertation research in London’s House of Lords tea room. cfr.org/articles/how-i…

Sudan has been engulfed in civil war since fighting erupted on April 15, 2023, and remains the world’s largest internal displacement and hunger crisis. 12 million people have been forcibly displaced, while tens of millions face acute hunger: on.cfr.org/4ct1yN8

Middle East diplomacy inched forward yesterday as a U.S. blockade on Iranian shipping continued. Participants in Israel-Lebanon talks described them as positive, while President Trump told the New York Post that additional U.S.-Iran talks could occur within the “next two days” in Pakistan. Read more and subscribe to the Daily News Brief: on.cfr.org/4mwTQGl

April 15 marks the third anniversary of Sudan’s civil war and the specter of genocide once again has descended upon the country, writes international law expert David J. Scheffer. The recent theater of atrocity crimes has been El Fasher, a city in the country’s western Darfur region. cfr.org/articles/the-s…

A new blog on a hot topic -- petrodollars The basic theme though is back when oil was at $70 there weren't actually many petrodollars -- and there won't be all that many of them even if oil settles at $100 cfr.org/articles/petro… 1/