How Obama Lost Friends in Europe and Influence Globally
Bad comes to worse in the Obama administration’s ties with Europe. Obama’s trans-Atlantic crisis is less dramatic than his other foreign policy failures: Syria, Egypt, the Mideast, China. But the implications of this debacle could prove profoundly significant—politically and diplomatically,…
China’s Strategy Has Completely Eluded Washington
The Chinese dragon, awake and alert for some time, is suddenly stretching its arms and embracing what it thinks with conviction is its destiny as a Pacific power. Will the American protectorate in place for 70 years hold, they ask…
Federalizing Ukraine Gives Putin Exactly What He Wants
Whatever anyone may think of Vladimir Putin, there is no longer any denying his mastery of statecraft. The Russian president’s gifts for surprise and exploiting the mistakes of those set against him, evident all along in the Ukraine crisis, now…
The Ukraine Delusion: Freedom Over the Economy
Charges and counter-charges now overtake the Ukraine crisis. It is a thicket at this point, with contradictions and hypocrisy in plentiful supply. The self-appointed government in Kiev, the parliament in constitutionally autonomous Crimea, the Russians, the Americans and Europeans—all miss…
How the White House Is Blowing Off Europe
The Obama administration needs to declare a “pivot to Europe” policy, and quickly. Not that the famous pivot to Asia has amounted to much: It drifts somewhere in the Pacific like a dead fish. But relations between the U.S. and…
State of Foreign Policy: Not a Sharp Picture
The blogs and newspapers tell us President Obama will be firing on all cylinders when he delivers his State of the Union speech Tuesday. He plans to push the reset button, reassert command and drive an agenda, and declare a…
Why Baucus Is the Wrong Man as China’s Ambassador
There are several reasons President Obama just named Max Baucus, the long-serving senator from Montana, as his next ambassador to China. There are also several reasons to judge Baucus the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time…
Is China Trading a Fly Zone for a Growing Economy?
There is a simple way to look at the complicated crisis that arises as China pressesnew claims to jurisdiction over air space above the Pacific. Beijing’s recent announcement that it will assert rights over a newly declared “air defense identification…
Saudis in a Snit over Obama’s Mideast Policies
What is happening between Saudi Arabia and the U.S.—the very fastest of friends since American geologists first caught the whiff of petroleum in the early 1930s? And how much should anyone worry about a rift between Washington and Riyadh? The…
Here Comes Obama’s Big Moment with Iran
It is still a thrill an hour in Washington. Do we have a government? Do we pay our bills? Two days of talks in Geneva this week will prove just as big. They begin Tuesday, the topic is Iran, and…
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