Phillip Orchard

Phillip Orchard is an analyst at Geopolitical Futures. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Orchard spent nearly six years at Stratfor, working as an editor and writing about East Asian geopolitics. He’s spent more than six years abroad, primarily in Southeast Asia and Latin America, where he’s had formative, immersive experiences with the problems arising from mass political upheaval, civil conflict and human migration. Mr. Orchard holds a master’s degree in Security, Law and Diplomacy from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, where he focused on energy and national security, Chinese foreign policy, intelligence analysis, and institutional pathologies. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas. He speaks Spanish and some Thai and Lao.

Latest From Author

The Coup in Myanmar: Why Now?

For Myanmar, a country where the military brass has called the shots for most of its modern history, this week's putsch shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise....

Reinventing Vietnam

The Vietnamese Communist Party is holding its 13th National Congress this week. These semi-decennial conclaves are typically carefully scripted, spiritless affairs where the party sets forth long-term goals and...

Taiwan and the Geopolitics of Microchips

Last week, Ford Motor Co. became the latest in a bevy of carmakers to announce production halts due to a global shortage of microchips. The Chinese military tested a...

What We’re Reading: On War, Real and Imagined

A History of Warfare By John Keegan Waxing philosophical about war is nearly as old as war itself. Sun Tzu, Winston Churchill, Thucydides, Shakespeare; among these authors and countless others, more...

The State of Play in North Korea

In a White House meeting just weeks before Donald Trump’s inauguration, then-President Barack Obama warned the president-elect that the North Korean nuclear threat would be the thorniest national security...

In Europe and China, a New Status Quo

2020 was supposed to be the “Year of Sino-European Friendship,” or so said Chinese state media last December. Eager to drive a stake in U.S.-EU relations, Beijing announced a...

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