Editor's note

The world reacted to North Korea’s successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile this week with a mixture of fear and outrage. President Trump, for his part, used Twitter to wag a finger at China, accusing President Xi of boosting trade with Kim Jong-un’s regime rather than sanctioning it as promised. Trump has a point, argues economist Greg Wright. China has tremendous leverage over North Korea yet appears to have done very little to rein in its nuclear-tipped saber-rattling. The University of California, Merced professor took a closer look at North Korean trade flows, which show just how much pull China has.

On his way to the G-20 summit in Germany, Trump visited Poland yesterday. University of Michigan’s Brian Porter-Szücs was in Warsaw for the president’s visit. The historian helps us look past the flag-waving crowds to numbers that reveal how popular Trump really is with Poles.

This weekend the artist Andrew Wyeth would have turned 100. At one point, Life magazine called Wyeth “America’s preeminent painter”; 20 years later, a critic wrote that viewing a Wyeth painting was “like sledding on dirt.” Case Western Reserve art historian Henry Adams explores the cultural, political and personal forces that shaped Wyeth’s polarizing legacy.

Bryan Keogh

Editor, Economics and Business

Top story

Chinese President Xi Jinping may be the only person able to rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, Michael Dinneen

How China could use trade to force North Korea to play nice with the West

Greg Wright, University of California, Merced

China is North Korea's biggest trading partner by far, giving the former a great deal of leverage over the behavior of its neighbor.

Politics + Society

  • Is Trump actually popular in Poland?

    Brian Porter-Szücs, University of Michigan

    A historian who studies Poland witnesses the president’s visit to Warsaw, and casts a skeptical eye at the crowd that took in the president’s speech.

  • Can Congress pressure the White House on human rights?

    Sarah Snyder, American University School of International Service

    Congress is trying to curb the president's ties to human rights abusers, harkening back to landmark legislation of the 1970s.

Arts + Culture

  • Andrew Wyeth and the artist's fragile reputation

    Henry Adams, Case Western Reserve University

    His rise was just as swift as his fall. To mark the painter's 100th birthday, an art historian explores the forces – cultural, political and personal – that created a polarizing legacy.

Ethics + Religion

Health + Medicine

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