Obama’s Syria Strategy: ‘Scrambling’ and ‘Desperate’ as Putin Takes Charge
What a week for President Obama and his toe-in-the-water strategy to stabilize the riotous anarchy that is Syria. The administration can do all the papering over they wish, but there’s no obscuring the truth that just landed with a thud:…
With Xi and Putin, Obama Sets the U.S. on a Course of Confusion
President Obama’s September agenda will need a glass case all its own when his presidential library is built. Straight from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit, Obama is now scheduled to meet Vladimir Putin at the U.N. Monday. Count Pope…
How the Iran Deal Alters Ties That Bind
Whatever one thinks of the accord governing Iran’s nuclear program, Iran and the six nations that sat across from it for 18 tough months of negotiation—the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China—will begin this autumn to implement the deal…
Behind the Tensions Over China’s Artificial Islands
There are two useful ways to view the current dispute over the artificial islands China is building atop reefs in much-contested zones of the South China Sea. It’s a mistake to see China’s construction projects in the Spratly Islands as…
Kerry-Putin Talks Could Deliver a Global Surprise
At 8:12 a.m. last Tuesday, Secretary of State Kerry Tweeted from Sochi, the Black Sea resort, with this mind-blower: “Had frank discussions with President #Putin& FM #Lavrov on key issues including #IranTalks, #Syria, #Ukraine.” In 140 characters and a photograph,…
Obama’s Middle East Mess and How to Clean It Up
“I think what we’re seeing is a rerun of the Iran/Iraq war” Kerry said, “We have to negotiate with Assad.” Yes that Assad. The U.S. Backs Sunnis, no Shiites, no Saudis, no Iranians…Huh? This has to be a singular moment…
China’s New Development Bank: How Obama Blew It in the Pacific (Again)
When China launched a new multilateral lending institution last October amid fanfare in the Great Hall of the People, the Obama administration had already spent many months opposing it. It urged Beijing not to go forward; then it lobbied allies…
Ukraine’s Second Front: Obama and Kerry Are Now at War With Europe
The Obama administration appears to be spinning the Ukraine crisis out of control and doing serious damage to trans-Atlantic relations all at once. Tensions between Europe and the U.S. over how to address the year-old crisis in Ukraine have simmered…
Ukraine’s Election Poses Big Questions for the U.S.
Ukrainians went to the polls Sunday to elect a new parliament, and when the results are official, it is almost certain they will have a legislature with new faces and a confirmed tilt westward. That will surely please Washington and…
Obama Makes the Middle East Our New ‘Quagmire’
Quagmire” is a term commonly associated with Vietnam, but we need to haul it out of storage. There is no other way to describe the mess the Obama administration has led us into in the Middle East. President Obama and…
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