Foreign Policy

Remembering Iraq

This week marked the fifteenth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Nicholas Kristof usefully reminds us of the catastrophic consequences of that decision, for the Iraqi people and for the Middle East, as well as its costs to the ...

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The UN, The US and Jerusalem

Most of the world opposes Israel’s occupation and colonization of Palestinian land on the West Bank, but nobody is willing to do anything concrete about it.  That’s mainly because the world’s most influential country, its only genuine superpower, stands ready ...

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The Russia Problem

Every once in a while Donald Trump says something that makes sense. For example, he has just asserted, “I want to solve North Korea Syria, Ukraine, terrorism, and Russia can greatly help!” It is indeed true that a more harmonious ...

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Thanks, Hillary

I enjoyed Hillary Clinton’s interview with Stephen Colbert, but what most made me happy was that, in criticizing Trump’s UN speech, she said that it wasn’t “…the kind of message that the leader of the greatest nation in the world ...

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Afghanistan

Donald Trump has unveiled his new strategy for our war in Afghanistan: more of the same. Under the cover of characteristically bombastic rhetoric promising victory, Trump is staying the course left by Obama. Trump’s announcement has been widely criticized in ...

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What Free World?

In well-justified revulsion at Trump’s post-Charlottesville statements, several commentators I’ve seen in the past week have uttered variations on the idea that Trump’s stance was unfit for the leader of the free world.  I can’t help wincing a bit on ...

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What to do about North Korea? (II)

Just a short post today, since, given the headlines, I feel as though I have to return to this subject, even though I said most of what needs to be said in my earlier post. We are not in a ...

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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 ...

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One 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 ...

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Donald 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 ...

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