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A Bizarre Attack on Isolationists by Kyl and Lieberman
Tweet Share on Facebook May 2, 2013 CommentChristopher Preble is the vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.
In a recent op ed, former Senators Joseph Lieberman and Jon Kyl darkly warned of the dangers of "isolationism." They never actually define what isolationism is, nor who supposedly believes in it, aside from a link to a single speech delivered earlier this year by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., at the Heritage Foundation. The article raises a host of questions, and answers none. Here are just a few:
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Syria Reveals the Uselessness of Obama’s Atrocities Prevention Board
Tweet Share on Facebook May 2, 2013 CommentDr. Lamont Colucci is an associate professor of politics at Ripon College, recent Fulbright scholar to the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, and author of The National Security Doctrines of the American Presidency: How they Shape our Present and Future, among other books. You can find out more at lamontcolucci.com.
Seven days before the attacks on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush issued NSPD–9, which called on the secretary of defense to plan for military operations against the Taliban and al–Qaida. It had three objectives: to eliminate the al–Qaida network, to use all elements of national power to do so – diplomatic, military, economic, intelligence, information and law enforcement – and to eliminate the sanctuaries of al–Qaida and related terrorist networks if other efforts failed.
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Obama Must Force Assad From Power in Syria
Tweet Share on Facebook May 1, 2013 CommentEvan Moore is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Foreign Policy Initiative
The Obama administration's assessment that "the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale," is a tacit admission that its efforts over the past two years have failed. Instead of continuing to push for a political solution, the Obama administration should reorient its policy from asking Assad to leave office to forcing Assad to leave office.
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Syria May Provide a Blueprint for Action in Iran, North Korea
Tweet Share on Facebook May 1, 2013 CommentBrian Michael Jenkins is senior adviser to the president of the RAND Corporation and author of the new eBook, When Armies Divide: The Security of Nuclear Arsenals during Revolts, Coups, and Civil Wars.
Both Israel and the United States now believe that chemical weapons have been used in Syria's civil war, most likely by Syrian government forces. If the rebels have even some of the chemical weapons, that could be worse, for it will mean that they are no longer under government control. They could be used in Syria today and elsewhere tomorrow.
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China’s ‘Communist’ Billionaires
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2013 CommentScheherazade S. Rehman is a professor of international finance/business and international affairs at The George Washington University. You can visit her homepage here and follow her on Twitter @Prof_Rehman.
Much has been made of the record China recently broke: it houses more billionaires in its government than any other country in the world. They make up the so-called "Red Aristocracy." So the central question of this blog is: How can you create the world's largest such collection of billionaires in a communist system?
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How the U.S. Must Negotiate New Trade Deals
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2013 CommentEd Gerwin is Senior Fellow for Trade and Global Economic Policy at Third Way.
When America debated the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, Groundhog Day – a film about doing the same things over and over – was a box office hit. Since then, our trade debates have often been like Groundhog Day, with trade supporters and critics repeatedly recycling well-worn talking points. But before everyone dusts off old scripts for upcoming debates about trade deals with Asia and Europe, it's worthwhile to consider what America might learn from more recent trade developments – especially those currently happening outside the United States.
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Progress Between Obama and Putin’s Russia Stalls
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2013 CommentHeather Stetten is a researcher at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC.
President Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, recently set a September date for bilateral discussions. The goal is to mend ties between the U.S. and Russia, badly frayed by the recent passage of tit – for – tat human rights sanctions, and attempt to put the administration's "reset" of relations with the Kremlin back on track. The White House has already suggested disarmament, Iran, North Korea and Syria as the main topics for the talks.
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How the Republicans Lost Their Way
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2013 CommentDaniel Gallington is the senior policy and program adviser at the George C. Marshall Institute in Arlington, Va. He served in senior national security policy positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Justice, and as bipartisan general counsel for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
One wonders what various foreign observers are thinking these days as they sort through our national politics via the world media, social or otherwise. Have they concluded, for example, based on our last two presidential elections, that we are now following the European model toward a socialistic form of government and/or a form of populist liberalism? It might look like that, but have we really "turned left," and is there any turning back for us?
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Obama’s Options Regarding Syria and Chemical Weapons
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2013 CommentMichael P. Noonan is the director of the Program on National Security at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia and is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The problem with sketching out red lines is that they can sometimes back one into a corner. Increasingly this looks to be the case in Syria where the use of chemical weapons by pro-regime forces there has seemingly – “seemingly” because the Obama administration are claiming that there is “varying degrees of confidence” that sarin gas had been used against rebel forces – crossed the line that President Obama laid out as a trigger for a more direct U.S. involvement in the conflict. Now the administration is left to do one of two things: nothing or something.
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Renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2013 CommentStephen Hayes is president and CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa.
Rosa Whitaker is one of the most widely-known leaders on Africa in Washington, DC. She has received many accolades for her leadership on U.S.-Africa business relations. She deserves them all. She is forthright and outspoken. I sat with her on a recent panel, convened by Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., at the Library of Congress. Whitaker has many gifts, and one of them is her ability to turn a complex issue into a simple phrase so that everyone understands the stakes.
