PATRICK LAWRENCE: Brighter US-Iran Prospects
Despite the seemingly escalating risks of war, last week also produced an unexpected drift toward the mahogany table. There was no shortage of alarming incidents in and around the Persian Gulf last week. But the risks of open conflict between…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Accelerating Imperial Decline
Washington’s foreign policy towards Iran is driven by desperation rather than a reasoned understanding of a world in historically significant flux. That can lead only to a continuing succession of failures. The kinetic events of the past week in Washington,…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Regrouping the Nuclear Dealmakers
There are three good reasons for Iran to go back to the table, says Patrick Lawrence. Does the Trump administration want to negotiate peaceably with Iran, or is it intent on bringing the Islamic Republic to its knees while setting…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: A Week of Dangerous Developments from Iran to North Korea
The increasingly aggressive moves by Trump’s hawkish advisers give the impression of a palace coup, writes Patrick Lawrence. Neoconservative hawks in the Trump administration, led by National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, moved swiftly to…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The US Moves on Iran’s Oil Market as an Expression of an Irrational Foreign Policy
Patrick Lawrence gauges the backfiring potential of Pompeo’s withdrawal on Thursday of U.S. sanction waivers from eight major importers. A Decisive Defeat in Long-Running Battle with Foreign Policy Minders Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement last week that no importer…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Trump & the Bolton-Pompeo Axis
Patrick Lawrence eyes the U.S. president’s difficulties with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton as he tries to resume peace talks with Pyongyang. Moon Jae-in’s Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump last Thursday marked an important…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Why the Dust Won’t Settle After Mueller’s Report
It won’t be “full and thorough” and Democrats will continue to look for political payoff from Russia-gate, writes Patrick Lawrence. Last week gave us mounting indications that Robert Mueller has finished his two-year probe into alleged Russian interference in the…
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…
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