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…
Is the Korean spring now over and the Trump-Kim summit on hold? Maybe — and maybe not
Trump’s hawkish advisers are clearly trying to scuttle peace talks. But China and North Korea may be ahead of them The potentially historic summit of Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un is on. No, it is off and we will…
After the Iran deal: A foreign policy built on arrogance, ignorance and sheer desperation
American foreign policy has long trended toward dark places. Under this administration, that has accelerated I am with Craig Murray now that the Trump administration has determined to scuttle the accord governing Iran’s nuclear programs. “This moment will be seen…
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…
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