Foreign Policy
What to do about North Korea?
The death of Otto Warmbier after captivity in North Korea serves as a reminder—if anybody needed one—that the regime in Pyongyang is brutal as well as bizarre. What should the United States do? Sanctions can be ratcheted up, but the ...
Read MoreOne for the Forces of Darkness
So, the struggle between the forces of darkness and the forces of…well, not exactly light, but relative sanity… continues in the Trump entourage. Not long ago, the pundits were reporting on how Jared Kushner—a leader of the sane faction—had managed ...
Read MoreDonald in Palestine
Donald Trump fancies himself the world’s greatest deal-maker, and now he’s pitching himself as the man to broker the deal that finally ends the historic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump’s angle is to stress that if Israel wants ...
Read MoreDonald in Arabia
Donald Trump has gotten rather positive press coverage for his address to the Saudis. Remember his State of the Union address? Whenever Trump talks for more than 5 minutes without making an obvious ass of himself, people start calling him ...
Read MoreStriking Syria
I’m frankly ambivalent about the US airstrikes in Syria. Arguably, they are an appropriately measured response to an atrocity. As long as they are no more than that—as long as they are a one-time demonstration and not a prelude to ...
Read MoreObama’s Legacy (II): Foreign Policy
Okay, since you know that I’m going to point to the empty upper half of the glass, I’ll start with the half-full part. President Obama’s foreign policy accomplishments are considerable, and whatever his successor does, they will have lasting value ...
Read MoreThe Syrian Tragedy
I don’t know if Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut is generally regarded as a rising Democratic star on foreign policy issues, but he should be. His op-ed on Syria in today’s NY Times makes eminent good sense, as he usually ...
Read MoreIsrael, The US, and the World
The UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s colonization of the West Bank–passed by a 14-0 vote– should be uncontroversial. It merely states the overwhelming international consensus that Israel’s land grab is a flagrant violation of international law. Even if you ...
Read MoreCan anything good come of this?
In my last post I promised to look for silver linings in this catastrophic election. I’ll try to make good on that promise, but I do want to emphasize that I am grasping at straws (and, I guess, mixing metaphors). ...
Read MoreUnbelievable
It is hard to believe. The White House will soon be home to a hatemongering, chronically mendacious caricature of a textbook narcissist, a con man who is totally unfit for the presidency. I’m glad that I don’t have any small ...
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