As a self-professed liberal internationalist, Paul B. Stephan ’77 once had high hopes for a permanent world peace based on global prosperity, but prospects for that possibility now look dim, the University of Virginia School of Law professor argues in a new book. Stephan, a former adviser to multiple presidents and foreign governments, offers insights about the history and shaky future of the international order in “The World Crisis and International Law: The Knowledge Economy and the Battle for the Future,” published by Cambridge University Press in February.

Aynne Kokas is interviewed on BBC NewsHour about proposals to ban TikTok.

This week, two U.S. senators plan to introduce legislation to ban the Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok. TikTok is used by two-thirds of American teens, but there’s concern in Washington that China could use its legal and regulatory powers to obtain private user data or to try to push misinformation or narratives favoring China. The bill is being introduced by Senator Mark Warner, a democrat from Virginia, who is concerned about the type of content that Americans are seeing on the app. What would a complete ban on TikTok mean for American users? How does the app pose a potential threat to our national security, and how would banning it pose a threat to our civil liberties? Joining us today on AirTalk to discuss the bill to ban TikTok is Anna Edgerton, who covers tech policy and national security for Bloomberg News, and Aynne Kokas, director of the University of Virginia East Asia Center and author of the book “Trafficking Data: How China is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereignty.”

Every war-winning strategy must not only consist of a desirable end—in this case Russia’s defeat—but must also contain ways and means to accomplish that end. The only sure way to guarantee Russian failure is to secure a Ukrainian victory on the battlefield that enables the total recovery of territory seized by Russia since 2014.

Eliot and Eric chew over the developments in Ukraine. They consider divisions within and among West European governments, the question of what defeat of Russia and victory for Ukraine means in practical terms, the lingering overestimation of Russian possibilities and underestimation of Ukrainian potential on the battlefield, and the potential role of China providing lethal aid to Russia. They conclude with a discussion about making the U.S. the arsenal of democracy in the West and globally and the use and abuse of historical analogies.

There’s growing concern in Virginia and across the nation about who should have access to the vast amount of private health information compiled on our phones and online. “Your [phone’s] location data ... tells the story of who you love, where you worship, what you're thinking, who you're sleeping with, the doctors you visit, tells the story of your intimate life,” said Danielle Citron, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law.