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…
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…
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…
Pence’s Attacks on China Won’t Help Trump at G-20
Beijing wants to avoid an all-out trade war with Washington. That is what will count at the G-20 summit later this week, writes Patrick Lawrence, not the U.S. vice president’s hostility in Asia earlier this month. Trying to Isolate China…
America’s Absence in Istanbul: A Sign of Decline, Not Surrender
Team Trump missed the summit on Syria. In that, Patrick Lawrence sees another sign of Washington’s failure to accept its loss of diplomatic primacy. Lost in the Memory Palace: US Leads, But No One Follows You would hardly know it from…
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…
The Art of No Mideast Deal
Donald Trump once advertised an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan as his greatest achievement-in-the-making, but like many of the president’s negotiations, the Kushner-Greenblatt strategy is a one-sided bargain, writes Patrick Lawrence. Whatever happened to President Trump’s “Deal of the Century”—his promise to…
The Trump Administration’s Spoiler Foreign Policy
U.S. strategy abroad is assuming a curious shape. Whether the president or his minders are running affairs, Patrick Lawrence sees the U.S. being reduced to playing a spoiler role in the Middle East and Northeast Asia. It is not possible…
What happens when Assad wins the war in Syria?
There are many significant consequences to this outcome, and it’s crucial that we understand them Given the unexpected pace of events in recent weeks, the end of Syria’s seven-year agony appears to be very near. It is now all but…
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