An odd policy problem arises out of the Covid pandemic, in the interface (pun noted) between private rights, i.e. not to wear a facemask, and public mandates to wear them. The collision of particular rights with needs of the commons arises in many global issues. Henry Kissinger points toward it in the international relations context, noting […]
On July 16, the State Department released the Draft Report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights. The report, as Walter Russell Mead notes, is “a thoughtful and carefully reasoned document that may serve as an important landmark.” Given the Commission’s charge, though, it should be titled “A Comprehensive Review of U.S. Human Rights Policy,” as […]
Brain Dead or Not, What’s its value to America? Emmanuel Macron’s views, as voiced in an interview with the Economist, suggest that America needs to clarify what America is. Americans will note Macron’s reference to the “brain death of NATO,” but the issue runs deeper than that one alliance. Unaddressed, the sentiment Macron voices could […]
The ongoing pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong put the question directly to Americans: just how important is freedom to us? There can be no mistake that the demonstrators aim for democratic rule, that they have reason to expect it, and that China denies it to them. The formal structure of the Hong Kong government, […]
We have not yet begun to fight! The Trump Administration’s August 5 designation of China as a currency manipulator marks a new crossing of policy lanes in US-China relations. In the many facets of that relationship and the rising tension between the two, America needs a clear understanding of our objectives and priorities. Followers of […]
Secretary of State Pompeo’s July 8 announcement of a new Commission on Unalienable Rights, alongside Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Plan to Rebuild the State Department, illustrate the domination of foreign policy discourse by politics. The political process chooses ultimate policymakers, so politics has a proper and large role. However, foreign policy is what a nation does as a […]
Think tanks, academics, now even the politicians, often call America a “creedal nation.” Most bend the idea to serve partisan arguments. But it has an independent meaning which should inform our discourse and underpin foreign policy, and not be used for polarizing politics. The Declaration of Independence’s “self evident” truths inspire the titles of books that […]
What Exactly Does It Stand For? Foreign policy, a nation’s collective conduct, best attains its interests if it correlates means to ends. To make the correlation, even to know its ends, a nation needs to know its identity. Attaining this knowledge raises great complexities. On May 8, a panel at the American Enterprise Institute on […]
On April 18, Foreign Affairs released an article by former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, or “P”, William Burns, on how to save the Department of State. That evening, the Foreign Policy Association hosted a lecture by his predecessor as “P”, Nicholas Burns entitled “The State of the Department of State.” The Burnses are unrelated except by […]
Marking the centennial Armistice Day, Emanuel Macron called nationalism the opposite of patriotism. Whatever his inspiration, his comment should spur Americans to consider what nationalism means to us. Macron may have been channeling historian Timothy Snyder, in his cite of novelist Danilo Kis: “… nationalism ‘has no universal values, aesthetic or ethical.’” Snyder quoted […]
President Trump’s pronouncements always generate froth, by his words and in the reporting and recrimination that follows. But in Brussels, before his Helsinki meeting with Putin, he did, again, call NATO obsolete. Once any President raises it, the question takes on a life of its own. And if NATO’s value is in doubt, who should be […]
Whatever the impact of a new national security team, and whether or not President Trump actually meets with Kim Jong Un in the next few months, the fundamental problems with North Korea remain the same. Former U.S. negotiator Evans Revere notes that we have heard Kim’s line before. Still, the atmospherics around around the question are […]
North Korea’s July 4 launch of an ICBM pushes us to a full reckoning with our motives, values, and national existence. In columnist Charles Krauthammer’s words, for “25 years and five administrations, we have kicked the North Korean can down the road. We are now out of road.” North Korea has put enough “facts on […]
The State Department issued the report on an internal “listening survey” on July 5. The report is not public, but reports indicate that its first recommendation is to define a mission for the Department of State. It also addresses a host of other concerns, and current and past State personnel complain that the Department is […]
