Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s snide comment about the Russian-led military intervention in Kazakhstan at the invitation of that country’s beleaguered government to help quell the mounting violence there backfired quickly. The initial White House reaction to the...
Dangerous Democrats Push Confrontational Policies Toward Russia and China
It is unsurprising when prominent Republicans advocate highly confrontational policies toward both Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), for example, stalled the confirmation of multiple presidential appointees for months until the...
Lost Opportunity: How the Clinton Administration Started a Cold War With a Democratic Russia
There is little dispute that relations between the United States and Russia are now so hostile that they amount to a second cold war. The current situation is such a depressing contrast to the high hopes for a cordial bilateral relationship and the emergence of a...
Is the Biden Administration Trying To Execute a Delicate Retreat Regarding Ukraine?
President Biden and other administration officials have stated emphatically on multiple occasions that the United States is firmly committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. In his April 2, 2021, telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymr...
Can Even a GOP Hawk Like Jeff Sessions Learn Some Hard Foreign Policy Lessons?
During his long years in the U.S. Senate, Jeff Sessions (who also later served as attorney general in Donald Trump’s administration) behaved like the overwhelming majority of his GOP colleagues; he consistently favored US military interventions around the world. There...
US Leaders Pursue a Dangerously Simplistic Deterrence Policy Regarding Ukraine
One of the most dangerous conclusions that America’s political and policy elites took away from the West’s victory in the Cold War is that deterrence not only can work, but if applied with military strength and emphatic rhetorical resolve, it always will work. The...
The Usual Suspects Are Trying to Foment a Crisis With Russia
Once again, the United States and some of its security clients in Eastern Europe are doing their utmost to create a crisis atmosphere with respect to Russia. A key player in that effort is the government of Ukraine. As Ukrainian officials did in April 2021, they are...
America’s Privileged Policy Elites and Their Lack of Accountability
It is increasingly apparent that America’s political and military elites are almost never held to account for their blunders or even outright crimes. The latest episode is the Pentagon’s multi-year campaign to conceal information about a March 2019 airstrike in Syria...
The Press as the War Machine’s Ally
American journalists typically have portrayed themselves as the public’s "watchdogs" monitoring the behavior of elected and appointed government officials. In the foreign policy arena, the mainstream news media have failed spectacularly at their...
Some Light Is Being Shed on the Dubious Origins of the Russia Collusion Scandal
U.S. Attorney and Special Counsel John H Durham’s laborious investigation into the origins of allegations that Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign illegally colluded with Russia’s government finally seems to be bearing fruit. In the latest development, a federal...


