Doug Bandow

President Donald Trump inexplicably took his first foreign trip to Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy with neither religious nor political freedom. On that trip in March 2017 he began to subcontract U.S. Mideast policy to a trio of self-serving regional leaders. Trump’s Mideast policy catered to this malign troika (along with American munitions makers), showering … Continue reading “The Trump Administration’s Abrahamic Sell-Out: Subordinating American Interests to the Saudis, Emiratis, and Israelis”

For someone so disparaging of "losers" President Donald Trump certainly has a lot of losing policies. His reliance on sanctions to inflict "maximum pressure" has failed everywhere. Yet the administration continues to double down on this losing policy, applying ever more economic pressure no matter how bad the result. The incoming Biden administration should reverse … Continue reading “President-Elect Biden Should Reset Relations with Cuba”

The People’s Republic of China is rapidly regressing on human rights, returning to the sort of political totalitarianism of the mad "Red Emperor" Mao Zedong. Personal autonomy remains largely unfettered, but Xi Jinping has created an expansive and brutal security state which punishes the slightest criticism of or dissent from his and the Chinese Communist … Continue reading “Americans Should Look at Their Conduct: China Points to US Human Rights Abuses”

On December 2, 1823 President James Monroe enunciated what became known as the Monroe Doctrine. It was a fantastic mix of presumption and chutzpah: the U.S., and only the U.S., was entitled to intervene whenever and wherever it desired for whatever reason it decided in Latin America. Monroe made his position sound a little less … Continue reading “The Monroe Doctrine Goes Global: America, and Only America, Gets To Intervene Everywhere”

As President Donald Trump prepares to leave office, Iran is leading the news after the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear engineer, likely by Israel with U.S. knowledge if not assistance. The Obama administration criticized a similar Israeli hit in 2012, but Trump lauded the latest murder. He has been fixated on Iran since taking … Continue reading “Confronting the Islamic Republic of Iran: Give Peace a Chance”

In Washington foreign conflicts are to policymakers what lights are to moths. The desire to take the U.S. into every political dispute, social collapse, civil war, foreign conflict, and full-scale war seems to only get stronger as America’s failures accumulate. There may be no better example than the battle between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the … Continue reading “Nagorno-Karabakh is Tragic but Not America’s Problem”

President-elect Joe Biden says Americans might have to die for the Senkaku Islands. You know, the 51st state. Er, a distant U.S. territory. Er, a vital geographic outpost blocking invasion routes into America. Er, some uninhabited rocks claimed by both China and Japan. Bingo! According to the official "read-out" of the phone call between the … Continue reading “Should Americans Die for the Senkaku Islands? Joe Biden Says Yes.”

The Trump presidency has been a wreck. An unqualified, unprepared narcissist with a nanosecond attention span and compulsion to tweet, while holding a multitude of ill-considered opinions, became the world’s most powerful and important person. It sounded like the script for a great movie. However, it played out as the most incredible reality show in … Continue reading “Donald Trump Isn’t Gone Yet and I Already Miss Him”

Washington’s bipartisan War Party, encompassing most Democratic and Republican foreign policy analysts, is horrified by President Donald Trump’s decision to appoint loyalists to the Department of Defense. No one seriously expects him to launch a coup attempt. Rather, they are afraid that he might end one of their cherished wars, without which, they fervently believe, … Continue reading “Get Out of Afghanistan Now”

Imagine being Joe Biden. The good news is that you have been elected president. You are about to become the most powerful and famous person on earth. You will have the ability to lay waste to anyone and anything, even to destroy the world as we know it. You will be instantly recognizable around the … Continue reading “Foreign Crises Will Beset President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021: But Most of Them Won’t Require America’s Attention”