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News of the World
The American Conservative
News of the World
Introducing the January/February 2026 issue of The American Conservative.
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This is The American Conservative’s first issue of 2026. At the one-year mark, the second Trump administration, elected on a platform of reprioritizing domestic issues, remains deeply, some might say disproportionately, involved in far-flung corners of the world. We are a news magazine, and if the world is where the news is happening, we are committed to bringing it to you.
Of course, top billing goes to the great-power struggles increasingly defining international relations. Nic Rowan’s cover story comes to us from the ground of what is still a marquee issue in American politics: the Russia–Ukraine war. Here, he finds little comfort for American audiences: Even if the war is ended, the peace will prove difficult to win. Our ISI intern, Rebecca Draeger, turns her attention to the other end of the Eurasian landmass with a piece about whether it is possible or even desirable to salvage strategic ambiguity in American policy towards Taiwan. Again, the answers she finds are uncomfortable at best.
But, for better or worse, the Middle East also still holds a lot of attention in Washington. Scott McConnell, our founding editor, and Andrew Day, our senior editor, each review books about the vexed heart of the region’s instability: the Israel–Palestine relationship. Their analyses are in this magazine’s finest tradition of subtle, complex foreign-policy critique.
The old hobbyhorses mustn’t distract us from the new toys, though. The National Security Strategy published in late 2025 gives Western Hemisphere issues pride of place, and the administration has spent months gleefully pouring military assets into the Caribbean to support its pressure campaign against Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. Joseph Addington gives a definitive primer on the history of American relations with the oil-rich land of Bolivar, our modern strategic interests, and the prospects for current policies. Daniel DePetris takes a look at the ugly crisis festering in Haiti.
But interesting things aren’t the exclusive preserve of strange climes and foreign lands; things happen at home, too. Spencer Neale surveys the state of play for prediction markets, the rapidly growing platforms that allow individuals to bet on an infinite variety of real-world events; Evie Solheim interviews a Utah mother who is on a crusade to make the American built environment more family-friendly. Even if the great and good in Washington are neglecting domestic affairs, TAC isn’t.
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