A President Held Hostage?

Poor Nikki Haley: she doesn’t get that having presidential ambitions and actually being the President are two different things! She went ahead and announced new sanctions on Russia – and was promptly contradicted by the White House, which averred that Nikki is “confused,” and that no new sanctions are contemplated. “I don’t get confused,” said … Continue reading “A President Held Hostage?”

Syria and the Revolt of the ‘Deplorables’

Surely there has never been a presidential peroration as filled with contradictions – not to mention regrettable rhetoric – as President Donald J. Trump’s speech to the nation explaining why he backtracked on his campaign promise to get us out of Syria. Particularly striking was this bit of doubletalk: “To Iran and to Russia, I … Continue reading “Syria and the Revolt of the ‘Deplorables’”

Why Write About Foreign Policy?

I apologize for the brevity of this column: I’m getting my tri-weekly anti-cancer treatment at a hospital in San Francisco. Yet I didn’t want to leave my readers in the lurch, so here I am, trying to explain why I do what I do – because it requires some explanation. After all, why write about … Continue reading “Why Write About Foreign Policy?”

Trump: Is He Stupid or Dangerously Crazy?

A child could see through the fake “chemical attack” supposedly launched by Bashar al-Assad just as his troops defeated the jihadists and Trump said he wanted out of Syria. But our President can’t, which raises the question: is he as stupid or stupider than George W. Bush? Or is he crazy? The bad news is: … Continue reading “Trump: Is He Stupid or Dangerously Crazy?”

Trump vs. the Permanent Government

The other day President Trump told his audience at a rally in Ohio that US troops are leaving Syria “very soon.” “Let others take care of it,” he said, “it’s time to build up our own country. It’s time to bring them home.” The foreign policy Establishment, the military, and the pro-jihadist “humanitarian interventionists” of … Continue reading “Trump vs. the Permanent Government”

Israel and the Palestinians: A Problem Without a Solution

Some of my longtime readers may have noticed that I haven’t written about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in many moons. There’s a reason for that: actually, two reasons. 1) Israeli society has become so sick and perverted by authoritarianism and religious fanaticism that I was in danger of committing one of the worst sins a writer … Continue reading “Israel and the Palestinians: A Problem Without a Solution”

Peace and the Intellectuals: Trump’s Korea Initiative vs. ‘The Blob’

President Trump’s Korean peace initiative is the most significant US diplomatic effort since the end of the cold war: if successful, it means the end of an era in northern Asia. The Koreans realize this; the Chinese realize this; it’s only the American punditocracy that just doesn’t get it. There are a few reasons why … Continue reading “Peace and the Intellectuals: Trump’s Korea Initiative vs. ‘The Blob’”

Singing the Bolton Blues

The appointment of John Bolton as President Trump’s National Security Advisor – his third so far – is bad news for anti-interventionists, but hardly the catastrophe #TheResistance is making it out to be. I’ve covered Bolton’s crazed ideology of perpetual conflict in this space on several occasions – you’ll recall he was up for Secretary … Continue reading “Singing the Bolton Blues”

Bring Back Bricker!

In this era of “America first,” when an upsurge of nationalism is sweeping the country (and, I might add, the rest of the world), the populist complaint is that ordinary people are being manipulated and exploited by the Davos crowd, a claque of would-be world-saving oligarchs. A political class that disdains Middle America and seeks … Continue reading “Bring Back Bricker!”

Bluff and Bluster

The much-anticipated "shock and awe" strategy breathlessly awaited by our image-hungry media has somehow morphed into a war of bluff and bluster. Instead of launching an all-out military assault, the U.S. military strategy is, at least initially, a political assault by the U.S. on the Iraqi leadership. The first sign of military action was a … Continue reading “Bluff and Bluster”