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The article focuses on the potential U.S.-Saudi agreements and the normalization of Saudi Arabia's relations with Israel. Topics include the Biden Administration's stance on Saudi-Israeli normalization as a national security interest, the conditions Saudi Arabia seeks for formal agreements, and the implications for U.S. foreign policy and congressional oversight.

The article offers information on Taiwan's opposition-controlled legislature passing pro-China changes that reduce the president's power. Topics include the Nationalist Party (KMT) pushing for greater legislative control over budgets, the protests and criticism from DPP legislators, and the broader context of Taiwan's ongoing military pressure from China.

The article offers information on recent political developments in Taiwan and the United States. Topics include Taiwan's opposition-controlled legislature passing pro-China changes reducing the president's power, sparking protests; China's military drills around Taiwan as a warning; and legal battles in the United States involving Special Counsel investigations, Supreme Court cases on Trump's ballot access, and ongoing trials related to fraud and hush money cases.

The article offers information on the latest Political Intelligence Briefing provided by CountryWatch's editor, which covers significant political developments across the international spectrum. Topics include the Featured Country, which highlights a key current issue, a Special Report on Israel with reference to the United States, and various Hot International Stories that cover multiple countries.

The article discusses the Political Intelligence Briefing, which provides comprehensive coverage of global political developments, focusing on the U.S., Ukraine, Russia, and various international issues. Topics include President Biden's State of the Union address, Senate Republicans' rejection of a bipartisan border security bill, and Donald Trump's controversial remarks on NATO, highlighting the impact on global security and diplomatic relations.

Over the past 10 to 15 years, the South China Sea (SCS) has emerged as an arena of U.S.-China strategic competition. China's actions in the SCS-including extensive island-building and baseconstruction activities at sites that it occupies in the Spratly Islands, as well as actions by its maritime forces to assert China's claims against competing claims by regional neighbors such as the Philippines and Vietnam-have heightened concerns among U.S. observers that China is gaining effective control of the SCS, an area of strategic, political, and economic importance to the United States and its allies and partners. Actions by China's maritime forces at the Japanadministered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea (ECS) are another concern for U.S. observers. Chinese domination of China's near-seas region-meaning the SCS and ECS, along with the Yellow Sea-could substantially affect U.S. strategic, political, and economic interests in the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere. Potential broader U.S. goals for U.S.-China strategic competition in the SCS and ECS include but are not necessarily limited to the following: fulfilling U.S. security commitments in the Western Pacific, including treaty commitments to Japan and the Philippines; maintaining and enhancing the U.S.-led security architecture in the Western Pacific, including U.S. security relationships with treaty allies and partner states; maintaining a regional balance of power favorable to the United States and its allies and partners; defending the principle of peaceful resolution of disputes and resisting the emergence of an alternative "might-makes-right" approach to international affairs; defending the principle of freedom of the seas, also sometimes called freedom of navigation; preventing China from becoming a regional hegemon in East Asia; and pursing these goals as part of a larger U.S. strategy for competing strategically and managing relations with China. Potential specific U.S. goals for U.S.-China strategic competition in the SCS and ECS include but are not necessarily limited to the following: dissuading China from carrying out additional baseconstruction activities in the SCS, moving additional military personnel, equipment, and supplies to bases at sites that it occupies in the SCS, initiating island-building or base-construction activities at Scarborough Shoal in the SCS, declaring straight baselines around land features it claims in the SCS, or declaring an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the SCS; and encouraging China to reduce or end operations by its maritime forces at the Senkaku Islands in the ECS, halt actions intended to put pressure against Philippine-occupied sites in the Spratly Islands, provide greater access by Philippine fisherman to waters surrounding Scarborough Shoal or in the Spratly Islands, adopt the U.S./Western definition regarding freedom of the seas, and accept and abide by the July 2016 tribunal award in the SCS arbitration case involving the Philippines and China. The issue for Congress is whether the Administration's strategy for competing strategically with China in the SCS and ECS is appropriate and correctly resourced, and whether Congress should approve, reject, or modify the strategy, the level of resources for implementing it, or both. Decisions that Congress makes on these issues could substantially affect U.S. strategic, political, and economic interests in the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the potential implications of COVID-19 on the international security environment, with debates on its transformative impact. Topics discussed include shifts in world order, U.S. global leadership, China's role, great power competition, democratic vs. authoritarian governance, societal stability, economic effects, alliances, defense strategy, non-state actors, and Congress's role in policy oversight.

The article focuses on the evolution of U.S. foreign policy regarding democracy and human rights, tracing congressional involvement since the 1970s. Topics discussed include the historical context, contemporary challenges, and various policy tools Congress employs to promote democracy and human rights globally.

The article offers information on the U.S.-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement (STA). Topics include the historical context and evolution of the STA, its provisions, and the broad functions of STAs. The STA, signed in 1979, was part of a strategy to counter Soviet influence and later aimed to integrate China into the global system.