The Military Now Runs US Foreign Policy
And as Trump’s recent turnabout shows, the establishment will brook no dissent from the reigning orthodoxy. You would expect, amid all the tiresome comment written and broadcast on Donald Trump’s “first 100 days,” something worth thinking about might have appeared…
Has Erdoğan Turned Turkey From an Ally Into an Enemy?
When the heedless Recip Tayyip Erdoğan ordered Turkish jets to bomb Kurdish targets in Syria and Iraq this week—ignoring vigorous American objections—he faced the Trump administration with a question it can’t flinch from much longer: Is Turkey turning from a…
With Iran in His Crosshairs, Trump Has One Risky Chip to Play
This PDF document is the original version, as filed, of the column posted on April 20. Looks like Iran is next on the list of foreign-policy bad guys Team Trump has in its crosshairs. In an assertive statement Wednesday, Secretary…
How Our Foreign-Policy Elites Manufactured the Korea Crisis
The attack on the Syrian airfield was a message to North Korea and China—and a demonstration of Trump’s capitulation to the imperial clique. The crisis over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic-missile programs now builds to a perilous pitch with no…
Trump’s ‘Tough Guy’ Foreign Policy Falls Flat with Russia and China
Now that Russia and China have jumped to the top of Donald Trump’s foreign policy agenda, how’s the president doing with Washington’s two most important relationships outside the Atlantic alliance? The crises in Syria and North Korea have suddenly complicated…
Trump Acts on Obama’s ‘Red Line’ by Launching Missiles at Syrian Targets
This PDF document is the original version, as filed, of the column posted on April 6. A week ago, administration officials said that ousting Syrian President Bashar al–Assad was no longer the U.S. priority. After Obama and then-Secretary of State…
Trump’s Climate Fail: Another Loss for American Leadership
President Trump put more than progress on climate change in jeopardy when he reversed the previous administration’s clean-energy policies on Tuesday. With a signature on an executive order, he put America’s global leadership more seriously at risk than at any…
Are We Drifting Toward War With North Korea?
We have no alternative but to open talks with Pyongyang; the sanctions strategy is not working. Author’s update: South Korea’s Constitutional Court removed Park Geun-hye, the nation’s beleaguered president, on Friday, March 10, as had been anticipated at the time…
Trump Has No South China Sea Strategy—and Needs One Fast
The South China Sea question is rolling toward the Trump White House like a long, low Pacific wave. Whenever it breaks, the president’s going to need a strategy he doesn’t seem to have yet. The strategy is just a piece…
Are We Witnessing a Coup Operation Against the Trump White House?
Our intelligence apparatus is doing far more than stoking paranoia about the Russian bogeyman—it’s threatening democracy. A couple of books come to mind amid the relentless leaks emanating from the spooks on either side of the Potomac and, not to…
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