Trump and Haley’s “America First”: Same old policy, made worse
Trump’s National Security Strategy outlines familiar policies (and some new ones), all doomed to end in failure It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times for American foreign policy last week: President Trump landed a twofer…
When Putin Talks, It Is Worth Listening
On foreign-policy questions, many Russians stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their leader. Vladimir Putin gave another of his end-of-year press conferences last week—nationally televised events consisting of an always-curious combination of Q&A, opinionating, offhand banter, observations on a wide range of domestic…
Trump’s Jerusalem fumble: If the U.S. is out as a Mideast broker, who’s in?
If the White House hoped to coerce Palestinians (and the world) into a peace settlement, it faces a rude awakening Considering President Trump’s sales pitch when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — “nothing more or less than a recognition…
Trump and Jerusalem: Will his “hard power” realism backfire bigly?
Like much of Trump’s foreign policy, the Jerusalem decision recognizes ugly facts about the U.S. role in the world Clarity is preferable to ambiguity even when the clear picture is grim. So I have found in many circumstances, and so…
There Are More Important Questions to Ask Than Whether Rex Tillerson Is In or Out at State
A renovated foreign policy rests on a great variety of factors beyond a house-cleaning at State. As so often with the Trump administration, one cannot tell what is what as to the future of Rex Tillerson. The secretary of state…
Now we face a nuclear North Korea: That might not be the worst thing
Kim Jong-un now has a nuclear deterrent, and diplomacy is the only sane option. Let’s hope the U.S. gets that We do not know everything, or maybe even very much, about North Korea’s latest missile test. But we know what…
Trump Begins to Feel His Way Toward a Post-American World
Whether or not by design, Trump seems to recognize that Xi’s dynamically emergent China has to be accommodated, not resisted. My articles here harp just short of ad infinitum on America’s changing place in a changing world. No apology. Our…
Journal Entry #28
Discernment NORFOLK, CONN., NOVEMBER 26— I spent a very agreeable evening Friday, day after Thanksgiving, at a friend’s house in Hartford—he a professor of Iberian studies at Trinity College. A few hours before arriving, I had filed a column now…
American policy totally failed in Syria — let’s be thankful
Despite media obfuscation, last week’s meeting between Putin and Assad suggests a new order in the Middle East I kept hearing National Public Radio programs this week to the effect that liberals and “progressives,” not to mention those in the…
Trump’s foreign policy is confused — but it isn’t really Trump’s
Trump had one consequential moment during his Asia trip — and everyone in the rudderless American media missed it No sooner did Donald Trump return a week ago from his 12-day escapade in Asia than the bickering began. Did the…
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