Trump, Russia, and the Return of Scapegoating, a Timeless American Tradition
Our bipartisan tendency to blame others for our own failures will be the cause of American decline. Now that the intelligence chiefs’ report on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election is available in expurgated form—and we have no reason…
Journal Entry #16
NORFOLK, Conn., January 9—A new year, a new time—though I won’t say “a new era.” This incessant insistence among the liberals that “this isn’t normal”—meaning all that proceeds from Donald Trump’s victory last November 8th—is sheer nonsense. What does one…
The Perils of Russophobia
Anyone too young to remember HUAC and the destruction the Cold War wrought should study up. We are a few short steps away from both. We are besieged, readers. As the archives of this magazine make perfectly plain, the spasm…
How American Exceptionalism Has Undermined Foreign Policy
End-of-history triumphalism will get us nowhere as the new century advances. Editor’s Note: For much of the past two decades, and certainly since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, progressive foreign policy has been defined by what it is against—primarily,…
Trump’s Taiwan Kerfuffle—and How the Policy Wonks Got It Wrong
The claim that he had no idea of the political and diplomatic implications when he took his call from Taipei does not hold water. Are you paying attention to the commotion over Donald Trump’s 10-minute telephone conversation last week with…
The Militarization of Diplomacy and Other Corruptions of US Empire
In part two of our interview, former ambassador Chas Freeman gives a master class in foreign policy. Part one of my interview with Chas Freeman, the retired diplomat who served in senior posts at State and Defense over a career…
Will Trump Break the Post–Cold War Order?
Much will depend on whom he surrounds himself with. But at least he’s put the question on the table. The presidency of Donald J. Trump: One still emits a quiet gasp when uttering the phrase. It will take time to…
The Filipino President Just Set Off a Diplomatic Earthquake
Rodrigo Duterte’s tilt toward China is a fundamental shift in the Western Pacific power balance. It is one thing for a leader such as Vladimir Putin to send all of Washington and the media clerks serving it into a dither—as…
Meet the Man Who Should Be the Next Secretary of State
Former ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman is that rare thing, an honest and wise diplomat—which is why he’ll probably never be appointed. Late this past summer, when I mentioned to Andrew Bacevich that I had interviewed Chas Freeman and…
The Russian Blitzkrieg on Aleppo Is a Direct Challenge to Washington
The Syrian cease-fire was already in tatters. But the new offensive is also early preparation for a hawkish Clinton presidency. What are we to make of events in Syria now that Secretary of State Kerry’s latest (and very possibly last)…
Recent Comments