Doug Bandow

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 complete lack of creative thinking. He won his party’s nomination as the least ideologically offensive … Continue reading “The Lost Opportunities of the Trump Administration”

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. But rarely is revolution successful without war. The French Revolution resulted in an orgy of bloodletting at home … Continue reading “Three Decades After Peaceful German Liberation and Unification”

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 foreign dignitary offers no protection. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Harari … Continue reading “Saudi Arabia Hosts G-20 Meeting – While Murdering Critics and Imprisoning Activists”

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 more pervasive intervention, ceaseless meddling, self-serving demands, economic sanctions, deadly drones, intermittent bombing, continuing occupation, and … Continue reading “President Joe Biden Plans a World of Endless Intervention and Probably War”

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 conventional wisdom. He would not spend his free time asking members of … Continue reading “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Donald Trump Confronts the World”

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 Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, in Tokyo. Also present were representatives of Australia, India, and Japan. This international meet-up was unashamedly directed … Continue reading “China Is a Challenge, But an Asian NATO Is Not the Answer”

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, turning its consulate into an abattoir for slicing and dicing regime critics proved disqualifying. … Continue reading “Promote Human Rights in Ways That Actually Preserve Human Rights”

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 difficult to choose between the two – seriously, this is … Continue reading “Foreign Policy Questions for the Candidates”

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 rights abusers instead. Indeed, authoritarian governments routinely sit on the 47-member body. Over the … Continue reading “Saudi Arabia Should Be Punished by, Not Elected to, the UN Human Rights Council”

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 state. Rather than assist Sudan by eliminating economic sanctions which lost their justification years … Continue reading “Washington as Wannabe Dictatress of the World: Targeting Newly Democratic Sudan”