PATRICK LAWRENCE: Why the Dust Won’t Settle After Mueller’s Report
It won’t be “full and thorough” and Democrats will continue to look for political payoff from Russia-gate, writes Patrick Lawrence. Last week gave us mounting indications that Robert Mueller has finished his two-year probe into alleged Russian interference in the…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: It Was Kim That Walked Away
There are two sides to the story about why the second North Korea peace summit fell apart last week, writes Patrick Lawrence. The abrupt and unexpected failure of the second Trump–Kim summit last week raises many questions. Let’s get one…
Journal Entry #41
A memory of memories in Delhi. COLORADO SPRINGS, February 22—There is a story I have wanted to tell for many years. It has nothing to do with Colorado Springs, where I have been lecturing for an interim. And it is…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: In Venezuela, US Forgets What Century It Is
Destabilizing other nations in gross violation of international law will no longer go unopposed, writes Patrick Lawrence. The Venezuela crisis worsens by the day. Early last week the U.S. sanctioned PdVSA, the state-owned oil company, by sequestering income from U.S. sales…
Second-Round Stakes Higher for Trump and Kim
The North Korea leader obviously wants a deal, writes Patrick Lawrence, which gives the U.S. a historic opportunity next month. President Donald Trump’s announcement late last week that he will meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un next month promises a significant…
Journal Entry #40
NORFOLK, CONN., JANUARY 16—A couple of good pieces of news come this way on an otherwise gray, bleak winter’s day. I thought I might share them with Cú Chulainn’s readers. Last autumn I published one of my long Q&A exchanges,…
Japan and the United States: Reflections on War, Empire, Race and Culture
The groundbreaking historian of Japan talks about the challenges of scholarship during rapidly changing times. This article appears in The Asia-Pacific Journal with a new introduction from Patrick Lawrence. It first appeared in The Nation on September 6 and September…
Journal Entry #39
Trump, Syria, and his minders: A yearend surprise. NORFOLK, CONN., DECEMBER 31—What an unexpected turn of events the terrible year now ending has delivered. It is not very Christmas-y, but there may be a gift in it—a big one, indeed….
Don’t Hold Your Breath on US Troop Withdrawal from Syria
It would be nice to think the president has final say on foreign policy, given the U.S. Constitution. But the misleading troop withdrawal announcement, followed by Trump’s boastful tweet, suggests the exact opposite, says Patrick Lawrence. The announcement on Wednesday…
Why China Tiptoed onto the Far Side of the Moon
Xi Jinping’s state media was strangely quiet about its historic lunar landing, writes Patrick Lawrence in this look at the U.S. effort to maintain primacy over advanced technologies. When China landed a space probe on the far side of the…