​Healthcare was a top concern in the 2018 Midterm Elections for American voters.  Not only does access to effective and affordable healthcare affect a person’s quality of life and longevity, it impacts their financial health.  A series of illnesses or a single illness requiring expensive, prolonged treatments can quickly exhaust the personal assets of most above average to below average income individuals and families.  While the inability of the sick to work and the personal costs associated with recovery alone can devastate a personal budget, a lack of insurance or a lack of adequate coverage can leave patients with bills that few can afford to pay.  The Trump Administration has responded by taking aim at the Affordable Care Act, informally known as Obamacare.  After failing to repeal Obamacare as promised, Trump has sought to undermine the economics of reform effort and ease regulations.  In his latest move, the President is restructuring Obamacare in a very Republican way, thus transforming it into Trumpcare.  The question is whether or not Trumpcare will be better.

​Genetically engineered humans are now a fact of life.  To be specific, the first human children to have had their DNA genetically edited were recently born. Named “Luna” and “Nana,” the twin girls are alleged to have been born healthy.  Biomedical researcher He Jiankui edited the DNA of embryos belonging to eight couples consisting of HIV-inflected males and HIV-free females using a technique known as CRISPR.  The expressed goal was to make the would-be offspring immune to HIV.  Even though it is still extremely controversial and morally questionable, research on human embryos has become somewhat of a norm, especially in countries outside of the developed world where regulations are far more lax or even nonexistent.  Implanting those embryos with the intent of creating genetically modified humans is, however, both largely unheard of and considered unethical.  Naturally, He Jiankui now faces backlash for his human experiments.  The question is whether or not criticism of the He experiment is actually valid as well as what should be done to address similar circumstances.

​Russia has attacked and seized three Ukrainian warships that were traveling from Odesa on the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov via the Kerch Strait.  The incident took place near Crimea, which Russia forcefully annexed from Ukraine in 2014.  While the Strait is considered the shared territorial waters of both nations, according to a 2003 treaty on the Azov-Kerch defined area of water, and Ukrainian officials have said their ships were operating in line with international law, Russia has blamed the incident on a Ukrainian conspiracy to provoke an international incident.  Russia recently completed the Kerch Strait Bridge that connects the Russian Federal to the annexed Crimea.  Russia appears to using a tanker to block the Strait, thus suggesting the incident may have been part of an effort to protect the bridge.  An incident of this nature would normally be a bilateral issue, but the Ukraine Crisis, the fact that the incident revolves around freedom of navigation, and Russia’s status as a world power make the Kerch Strait Incident an international concern that could easily spiral out of control.   

​The Fourth National Climate Change Assessment has been released by officials from 13 federal agencies working under the leadership of the Trump Administration, which pushed up the release date of the report to coincide with the Thanksgiving holiday week.  The extensive report details the various risks posed by climate change to the United States as well as what is being done to blunt the impact of climate change and what more needs to be done.  It concludes the economic impact of climate change could very well top 10% of GDP while thousands of people could die from the fallout of climate change.  For President Trump, who has questioned man’s hand in climate change and suggested climate change might reverse itself, the report is a rebuke from career professionals working under the Executive Branch and, therefore, a political embarrassment to him.  For activists, it is a definitive call to action.  In reality, it is simply a reminder that climate change will have a meaningful impact on the US and the US needs to take more proactive steps to address it, which is where the problem lies.

​The so-called “Brexit,” which is the nickname for Great Britain’s exit from the European Union, became a reality on June 23, 2016 when a narrow majority of voters cast their ballot in favor of a referendum to leave the customs union.  Although the election of US President Donald Trump and his controversial leadership have overshadowed Brexit events, it is one of the most significant geopolitical developments directly impacting the developed world and global economy.  Absent a highly unlikely extension or other unforeseen developments, Great Britain will be leaving the European Union on March 23, 2019.  If elected officials in Britain, as well as EU officials, can agree to Prime Minister Theresa May’s draft Brexit deal, Britain can begin to recalibrate how its trade relations work with minimal disruptions.  If not, Britain may find itself unable to trade with its closest economic partners, which could leave it practically frozen out of the global economy.  While the economic implications of the Brexit are both important and interesting, the macro-political and geopolitical implications are, perhaps, even more significant.