PATRICK LAWRENCE: The Failed American Experiment
Here comes the front edge of a new era, one in which America finally falls off its horse, its global standing properly diminished. “The American experiment” is a familiar phrase among us. When we reference it, we do so fully…
A Circle in the Darkness: Post-War Europe
Diana Johnstone’s newly-published memoir offers an incisive, gritty, politically alert, and expansive account of post-war Europe, reports Patrick Lawrence in this interview with the author. Diana Johnstone first sojourned in Paris during the early postwar years, as France and the…
China’s European Moment Has Arrived
The simplicities of the postwar order have just begun to pass into history, writes Patrick Lawrence. It would be difficult to overstate the importance of Xi Jinping’s visits to Rome, Paris and Monaco last week. In bringing his much-remarked Belt and Road…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Pompeo, Pence & the Alienation of Europe
If the objective was to further isolate the U.S., the two officials could not have done a better job last week, writes Patrick Lawrence. What a job Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did in Europe…
New Iran Sanctions Risk Long-term US Isolation
The U.S. is going for the jugular with new Iran sanctions intended to punish those who trade with Teheran. But the U.S. may have a fight on its hands in a possible post- WWII turning-point, writes Patrick Lawrence. Europe, Asia…
Trump is about to kill the Iran deal — and what lies ahead could be catastrophe
Next act of decaying American empire: Abandoning a deal that promised a new beginning in the Middle East Here comes the next act in the Theater of Desperation that Washington has made of American foreign policy. Unless President Trump changes…
Behind this week’s Russia headlines: A mystery, a leap to conclusions and a fateful turn
Did the Russians try to murder a former spy? Maybe. But that has little to do with the larger Russophobe narrative What a week for the Russophobes. The British government pins an unsolved murder attempt on Moscow, and the French,…
Team Trump seems bent on undoing the Iran deal: So what happens next?
Major global disorder lies ahead if the McMaster clique dismantles the Iran deal. In some ways that might be good We had better brace ourselves for a further descent into global disorder: The next round in the Trump administration’s determined…
New US Sanctions Could Drive Russia and China Even Closer Together…
…And drive a deeper wedge between America and the European Union The House passed a new sanctions bill Tuesday, and the Senate’s going to pass it soon. This one toughens existing sanctions against Russia and adds new ones against North Korea…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Europe Going Its Own Way
Events of the past week show the Continent restoring some of its pre-1945 independence from U.S. hegemony. Those who come after us will look back and conclude we lived in a time of great moment. This is true in all sorts of…