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The real danger to the US is at home

Foreign policy veteran Richard Haass sees the unravelling of the US political system as posing a bigger threat than external ones.

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The US has become the most profound source of instability and an uncertain exemplar of democracy, says foreign policy veteran Richard Haass.

The US has become the most profound source of instability and an uncertain exemplar of democracy, says foreign policy veteran Richard Haass.

PHOTO: AFP

Peter Baker

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Everywhere he has gone as president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dr Richard Haass has been asked the same question: What keeps him up at night? He has had no shortage of options over the years: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, climate change, international terrorism, food insecurity, the Covid-19 pandemic.

But as he steps down after two decades running America’s most storied private organisation focused on international affairs, Dr Haass has come to a disturbing conclusion. The most serious danger to the security of the world right now? The threat that costs him sleep? The United States itself.

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