Why Sanctions Don’t Work
Whenever a foreign country doesn’t go along with the policy goals of the "international community" (i.e. America and it’s allies), one tool that it invariably uses to try and put these nations back in line is the sanction. As most of you are already aware,...
North Korea Continues to Act Up: Why Is America Still in the Middle of the Korean Imbroglio?
The US is simultaneously challenging China, Iran, and Russia. Although war remains unlikely, all three involve potential military confrontations with significant powers. Then there is North Korea. The "love affair" between the North’s Supreme Leader Kim...
Counting the Costs of Reckless Militarism
U.S. troops are still living with the consequences of Trump’s decision two years ago to assassinate Iranian Qods Force commander, Qassem Soleimani. Initially sold as necessary to ward off an "imminent attack" that did not exist, the drone strike that killed...
Antony Blinken and a Gun at Your Head
When Joe Biden selected Antony Blinken to be his Secretary of State, Stephen Zunes, professor of politics at the University of San Francisco, worried that the selection represented, not a correction, but a continuation of past interventionism and incompetence. As...
US Officials in Glass Houses Shouldn’t Throw Stones
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s snide comment about the Russian-led military intervention in Kazakhstan at the invitation of that country’s beleaguered government to help quell the mounting violence there backfired quickly. The initial White House reaction to the...
US-Russia Talk About Where Not To Place Missiles
"Impasse, Deadlock" says The Washington Post describing the outcome of the high-level U.S.-Russia talks Monday, with a tone of self-congratulation (we told you so), tinged with wishful thinking. Yes, wishful thinking. Given the very high stakes, the media is...
Hey, Hey, USA! How Many Bombs Did You Drop Today?
The Pentagon has finally published its first Airpower Summary since President Biden took office nearly a year ago. These monthly reports have been published since 2007 to document the number of bombs and missiles dropped by U.S.-led air forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and...
Where Does NATO Enlargement End?
After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Warsaw Pact dissolved, the breakup of the USSR began. But the dissolution did not stop with the 14 Soviet "republics" declaring their independence of Moscow. Decomposition had only just begun. Transnistria broke...
Offer Russia a Solution, Not a Policy Placebo
The US and Russia are talking again today, but this time focused on Ukraine. The two sides are discussing President Vladimir Putin’s demand that America and NATO respect Moscow’s security interests. Having treated Russia as of no account since the collapse of the...
