Trump’s Next Challenge: Russia Returns to Afghanistan
America’s 16-years in Afghanistan has so far resulted in 2,216 dead soldiers, 20,049 casualties, and an estimated $800 billion in direct war costs — not including veterans’ health and pension payments that could reach $400 billion before it’s all over….
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…
Defense and State In a Tug of War Over Obama’s Syria Policy
For many of us, the news last week that President Obama is sending U.S. Special Forces to Syria to oversee the training of Syrian rebels fighting ISIS is confusing. It begs the question—what exactly is the Obama administration’s policy, strategy,…
Obama’s Failure in Syria Now Extends to Turkey
The Obama administration’s failure in Syria after four years of wasted lives, money, and effort deepens by the day now. The Russians have just benched us, whether Washington wants to admit it or not, and we may well sit out the…
How Obama Got It Wrong in Egypt
President Obama has just made a fateful choice in Egypt. He has chosen a side in the violent confrontation between supporters of the nation’s first elected president and the army generals who deposed him in a coup six weeks ago….
The Coup in Egypt: A Failure Greater than Morsi
The removal from power of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s duly elected president will never change one irrefutable truth: If you applaud or support military coups in democracies—even young, wrongheaded democracies—you aid in the making of a very messy world. Only a…
Is North Korea Done With Its March Madness?
Another wacky, worrisome week passes on the Korean peninsula. Kim Jong–un, North Korea’s intensely unpredictable leader, has threatened to attack the “U.S. mainland” with nuclear-tipped missiles. He has declared a state of “all-out war” with South Korea. On Saturday, Pyongyang…
Iran Sanctions: Another Cuban Missile Crisis?
And two more hotspots: Iraq and Egypt Is 2012 destined to be a year of Middle East challenges—not to say calamities—for the Obama administration? It has certainly started out ominously. The White House already has three fires to put out…
U.S.-China: Obama Foolishly Taunts the Dragon
The most striking outcome of President Obama’s busy crisscrossing of the Pacific last week is this: The U.S. is now going to station 2,500 Marines in Australia and develop (it hopes) a trade-enhancing organization called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP….
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