Absent an unexpected showing of significant electoral fraud, Joe Biden will become America’s next president. The government of the world’s most powerful nation will be directed by a decrepit lifetime politician known for his often exquisitely bad judgment and almost...
Three Decades After Peaceful German Liberation and Unification
Revolution and war typically go together. Entrenched political establishments and elites rarely yield power voluntarily. Those enraged over persistent injustice often turn to violence. Revolution sometimes triggers war and at other times is a consequence of conflict....
Saudi Arabia Hosts G-20 Meeting – While Murdering Critics and Imprisoning Activists
Leaders of the G-20, the association of states with the world’s largest economies, will soon be descending upon Riyadh. Hopefully Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman isn’t angry with any of them. After all, he’s been known to slice and dice his critics. Being a...
President Joe Biden Plans a World of Endless Intervention and Probably War
Joe Biden might be elected president next week. What would that mean for U.S. foreign policy? President Donald Trump’s failings are many and obvious. Unfortunately, Biden’s assumptions and plans, though different, are equally flawed. Almost certainly there would be...
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Donald Trump Confronts the World
How time passes when you are having fun. Four years ago the most unusual presidential campaign of recent times was nearing its close. On foreign policy, at least, it was evident that Donald Trump was not just another Washington apparatchik bewitched by the...
China Is a Challenge, But an Asian NATO Is Not the Answer
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continues to undermine President Donald Trump’s "America First" agenda by promoting ever-expanding military commitments around the globe. Pompeo’s latest interventionist fling occurred last week when he attended the...
Promote Human Rights in Ways That Actually Preserve Human Rights
Sometimes human rights unexpectedly win. For instance, last week the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a vile regime that has become an unaccountable favorite of President Donald Trump, was widely expected to win another term on the UN’s Human Rights Council. Unexpectedly,...
Foreign Policy Questions for the Candidates
Presumably presidential debates have some value. But, truthfully, if you don’t know what Donald Trump, president for the last, very painful, four years, and Joe Biden, in public life for a terrifying 47 years, stand for, you should not be voting. You might find it...
Saudi Arabia Should Be Punished by, Not Elected to, the UN Human Rights Council
Whatever the theoretical value of the United Nations system, its agencies are a source of frequent farce. Among the worst performers is the Human Rights Council. Nominally devoted to promoting people’s basic rights, the body often protects the world’s worst human...
Washington as Wannabe Dictatress of the World: Targeting Newly Democratic Sudan
The Trump administration apparently sees America as dictatress of the world, which John Quincy Adams warned against two centuries ago. The people of Sudan are emerging from decades of dictatorship, but the Trump administration is treating the country as a puppet...