Foreign Policy Blogs

Arms Control and Proliferation

The Snowball Effect of Continued U.S.-Russia Strategic Mistrust

The Snowball Effect of Continued U.S.-Russia Strategic Mistrust

The unthinkable has happened as rising U.S.-Russia tensions in Syria have started to undermine global security through a key nuclear deal cancellation.

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The Times Profile That Roiled Washington

The Times Profile That Roiled Washington

A newspaper profile of the President’s foreign policy spokesman has created an uproar based on a distorted notion of the role of foreign policy messaging.

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Risky Business: Pyongyang’s Dangerous Gamble

Risky Business: Pyongyang’s Dangerous Gamble

After protracted negotiations, China has finally withdrawn its opposition, joining in the UN Security Council’s unanimous decision to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea in response to its recent nuclear and ballistic missile test.

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Beijing and Washington: An Uneasy Balance in the Korean Peninsula

Beijing and Washington: An Uneasy Balance in the Korean Peninsula

On Sunday, Pyongyang launched a long-range missile. While China still opposes expanding sanctions on North Korea, Washington has recently stressed its determination to support South Korea and Japan against the North’s nuclear threat.

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What Can Washington Do About North Korea’s Nuclear Ambitions?

What Can Washington Do About North Korea’s Nuclear Ambitions?

This week, military tensions and international concerns reached an unprecedented level in the Korean Peninsula after the United States deployed a B-52 bomber in response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test. 

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Did Iran Ever Actually Violate The Nonproliferation Treaty? Does It Matter?

Did Iran Ever Actually Violate The Nonproliferation Treaty? Does It Matter?

The IAEA’s final report left many observers dissatisfied: reactions to it tended to reflect people’s preexisting attitudes toward the issue.

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Russia’s S-400 Missile and Putin’s Iron Dome

Russia’s S-400 Missile and Putin’s Iron Dome

In the aftermath of the incident with Turkey, the next generation of Russian surface-to-air missile that concerned U.S. officials for so many years is now being deployed in Syria.

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The Iran Deal: Not Trusting, Verifying

The Iran Deal: Not Trusting, Verifying

There has been considerable opposition to the Iran Deal. One of the most curious assertions being made, however, is that we cannot negotiate with the Iranians because they cannot be trusted. This simply defies logic. If we trusted them, we would not need to negotiate an agreement.

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The Iran Deal: Three Unfounded Lines of Attack

The Iran Deal: Three Unfounded Lines of Attack

A great deal has been written about the agreement negotiated between Iran and the P5+1 countries. A lot of the commentary has been nonsense. Here I would like to address three unfounded lines of attack.

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U.S. Senate Approves Guns to Syria: ‘Designated Terrorists’ Still on OFAC List

U.S. Senate Approves Guns to Syria: ‘Designated Terrorists’ Still on OFAC List

The fact that the end users, the Free Syrian Army, to whom the US government has decided to send ‘lethal aid,’ is closely affiliated with individuals and organizations still listed on the Department of Treasury’s ‘SDN’ List, people and groups the Office of Financial Assets Control (OFAC) has banned as importers or recipients of US goods (especially weapons), doesn’t seem to bother the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Perhaps the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is confused? Unaware that a transfer of weapons from the US, directly or through an intermediate buyer, to any organization or individual listed on OFAC’s list would constitute an illegal arms sale?

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Obama and Syria: Red Lines Redeemed?

Obama and Syria: Red Lines Redeemed?

I’ve contended in previous posts (here, here and here) that President Obama’s failure to enforce his numerous threats against the use of chemical weapons by the Bashir al-Assad regime in Damascus is a significant reason to doubt the credibility of his repeated vows to use military force to stop Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.  So is my argument undermined now […]

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Obama’s NDU Speech: Implications for Tehran

Obama’s NDU Speech: Implications for Tehran

The major speech on counter-terrorism policy President Obama delivered last week at the National Defense University has generated a great deal of commentary about its implications for drone strikes and Guantanamo detainees. Little noticed, however, is the underlying message it sends to Iran’s leaders. Mr. Obama has made it a habit of talking tough to […]

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Red Line Blues: North Korea, Iran and Syria

Red Line Blues: North Korea, Iran and Syria

A defining moment for Mr. Obama’s foreign policy legacy is fast approaching From the Levant and the Persian Gulf to the Korean peninsula, events in recent weeks have offered a clinic in the difficulty of enforcing red lines on rogue regimes and their weapons of mass destruction, as well as how U.S. credibility suffers when […]

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Iran: Cutting the Gordian Knots

Iran: Cutting the Gordian Knots

The good news in nuclear arms control this last week was of course China’s rather surprising decision to join in international sanctions against North Korea. The single most important thing about sanctions, almost always, is not their material effect but, rather, when the sanctions are universal,  the moral and political impact on the target country […]

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The Four Statesmen Return to the Rostrum: Take Action on Proliferation Risks Now

The Four Statesmen Return to the Rostrum:  Take Action on Proliferation Risks Now

In what seems to be a response to the Corker/Inhofe op-ed in the Wall Street Journal of last week, elder statesmen George Shultz, Bill Perry, Henry Kissinger and Sam Nunn reiterated their call for more urgent progress on reducing nuclear risks, particularly proliferation.  This is their fifth article since their original joint op-ed published in […]

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