Western officials who salivate over the prospect of inflicting a decisive, humiliating defeat on Russia in its war with Ukraine remain oblivious to the dangers entailed in that scenario. As I pointed out early in the conflict, Russian leaders consider Ukraine to be...
Bogus Foreign Policy Narratives Go Unchallenged
One maddening feature of foreign policy debates in the United States is how frequently journalists and policy experts fail to challenge dominant narratives even when those narratives have glaring defects. Such malfeasance has facilitated a growing list of Washington’s...
The Zombie Domino Theory Returns
An especially damaging development in the history of U.S. foreign policy was President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s promulgation of the domino theory. Adoption of its assumptions led directly to America’s disastrous military intervention in Vietnam. Although the simplistic...
Washington’s Egregious Deceptions About the Russia-Ukraine War
All governments produce deceptive propaganda about aspects of their foreign policy. However, Joe Biden’s administration seems intent on setting some kind of record for both the number of falsehoods and their brazenness. Three of them stand out with respect to the...
A Bad Idea Resurfaces: Using the US Military Against Mexico’s Drug Cartels
There has been a recent flurry of proposals to have the U.S. military launch a full-scale war against Mexican drug cartels – primarily to stem the alleged fentanyl crisis. Former Attorney General William P. Barr initiated the latest campaign with an op-ed in the March...
Economic Sanctions Are Simultaneously Ineffective and Cruel
Joe Biden’s administration keeps boasting about how successful international sanctions have been in punishing Russia for invading Ukraine. But that boast is increasingly hollow, both with respect to the extent of international unity and the success of the sanctions....
Western News Media Downplay Ukraine War Crimes
In late March, the United Nations issued a new report on war crimes being committed by both Russian and Ukrainian forces. The document provides a shocking litany of brutal behavior on the part of both militaries, although the investigators concluded that Russian units...
Is Weakening Support for Ukraine War Following a Historical Pattern?
Reprinted with permission from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft Recent public opinion surveys regarding the extent of domestic backing for Washington’s Ukraine policy provide a decidedly mixed picture. A majority of Americans still support the Biden...
Volodymyr Zelensky Is Washington’s New Jonas Savimbi
Most advocates of aiding Ukraine in its fight against Russia do not merely contend that the move is justified to repel an act of aggression that threatens to legitimize wars of conquest. Instead, they portray Ukraine as a freedom-loving democracy and Ukrainian...
NATO’s Phony (and Dangerous) Nonbelligerent Status Regarding the Ukraine War
U.S. leaders and their media allies have fostered numerous, self-serving myths about the war in Ukraine. One myth is that Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine was entirely unprovoked, since NATO’s expansion to Russia’s border was not a hostile act. Another fable...


