Ted Galen Carpenter

Americans should be experiencing an uneasy sense of déjà vu. In the last two years, U.S.-trained officers have overthrown West African governments at least four times.  There are indications that other graduates have undermined civilian governments in other portions of the continent. But U.S. military officials have been less than informative. US Africa Command (AFRICOM) … Continue reading “The US Military Is Training Third World Coup Leaders Again”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created a humanitarian tragedy for that country, and all reasonable people should want the increasingly bloody conflict to end as soon as possible. Policies that the Biden administration is pursuing, however, threaten to prolong the war and its suffering. The troubling question arises about whether Washington’s policies are merely inept, … Continue reading “Is the Biden Administration Trying to Prolong the Ukraine War?”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered anger, vitriol, and bigotry in the United States and much of the democratic West. It is an atmosphere of intolerance that surpasses the immediate post-9-11 period (especially the lead-up to the Iraq War) and even the height of McCarthyism in the early and mid-1950s. Indeed, it is reminiscent of … Continue reading “World War I Hysteria Redux: The Hate Everything Russian Campaign”

Throughout his extraordinarily long political career, Joe Biden has had a well-deserved reputation for making verbal gaffes. In 2018, he even admitted that he was "a gaffe machine." That problem has worsened since he became president, especially with respect to foreign affairs. Biden has made several statements that suggested important shifts in U.S. policy – … Continue reading “Biden’s Latest Verbal Gaffe Is Truly Dangerous”

American journalists have a long, ignoble history of being willing conduits for pro-war propaganda. Usually, that behavior is in service to a military crusade that Washington has launched or wants to initiate. At times, though, such a betrayal of journalistic integrity occurs on behalf of a foreign country that both U.S. political leaders and news … Continue reading “The US Press Again Becomes a Conduit for Pro-War Propaganda”

As the Russia-Ukraine war rages on, hawkish members of the U.S. political and policy communities have been busy concocting a variety of ideas for dealing with the situation. Three sets of proposals stand out as especially foolish and dangerous, each having some potential to entangle the United States in the Ukraine conflict at the risk … Continue reading “Awarding Medals for the Worst Ukraine Policy Proposals”

Western leaders and their allies in the establishment news media are practically apoplectic about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Objectively, there is much to denounce regarding Moscow’s actions. Even though the architects of NATO’s expansion to Russia’s border and the Ukrainian government’s increasingly evident eagerness to become an Alliance member and military asset constituted serious provocations, … Continue reading “NATO Set Precedents for Russia’s Attack on Ukraine”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underscored the warnings that the Kremlin has made for years that any attempt to give Kyiv membership in NATO or use Ukraine as a military asset would cross a dangerous red line. In December 2021, Moscow issued demands on the United States and NATO for security guarantees to preclude the … Continue reading “The Finland Option May Still Save Ukraine”

Foreign policy hawks in the United States habitually equate a noncommunist Russia with the totalitarian Soviet Union. An especially graphic example is a recent article in 19FortyFive by Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute. The title, "Russia Was a Rogue State Long before Ukraine and Georgia," accurately conveys the extent … Continue reading “Hawks Make Little Distinction Between Russia and the Soviet Union”

In recent weeks, North Korea has provided graphic demonstrations of its growing ballistic missile capabilities. During January, Pyongyang set a new record by conducting 7 tests in a single month. Kim Jong-Un’s government capped off that flurry by marking the lunar New Year with a dramatic test of an intermediate-range missile capable of reaching the … Continue reading “North Korea’s Missile Tests a Response to a Zombie US Policy”