To many Americans, foreign policy discourse comes in broad themes punctuated by very specific issues. China policy may well form the largest of those themes, and reasonably so. China could pose a threat to displace America’s international system, arguably the only one. News and commentary focus heavily on China’s actions and their rulers’ intent: whether […]
It has been 60 years since the Italian Somaliland and the British Somaliland became independent from their respective colonial powers to form a union that miserably failed 30 years later. After a long ever-morphing saga of blood, destruction, and loss of identity Soomaalinimo (Somaliness), these two political entities, legally known as Somalia, have just concluded […]
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, […]
Naturally broken nations like Somalia that require intervention from the international community require a safe area where diplomats and other officials representing key governments and organizations could be hosted. Hence Somalia’s heavily guarded “Green Zone”, or Halane as it is commonly known. As a compound dominated by African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) soldiers, mostly […]
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 […]
The U.S. must engage in more long-term, strategic thinking in order to compete effectively in the new great power competition with both China and Russia.
Despite the 18,000faithful who gathered recently in Washington, D.C. to pledge their unwavering support to Israel, AIPAC finds itself in a Dickensian moment of history that could be described as ‘It was the winter of gloating; it was the spring of scrutiny’. AIPAC’s guests of honor may vary in faith and political affiliation; they may […]
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 […]
Hyperbolic warnings about allegedly disastrous consequences of a Tymoshenko presidency are demobilizing Western support for Ukrainian reforms and defense My recent article “What Would a Tymoshenko Presidency Mean?” for the Ukraine Alert of Washington’s Atlantic Council has caused indignation among numerous Ukrainian experts and journalists – some of them hitherto close colleagues and professional friends. […]
The prominent Western commentator of post-Soviet affairs Taras Kuzio has recently come forward with a barrel of English-language attacks on Ukrainian opposition politician Yulia Tymoshenko – so far, the clear front-runner in Ukraine’s upcoming presidential elections in March 2019. Kuzio has placed several critical and partly denigrating texts about Tymoshenko in reputed analytical outlets, such […]
According to prosecutors, the trial of Patrick Ho was simply business. The Chinese financier, found guilty of orchestrating a multi-million dollar bribery scheme in Africa, wasn’t the victim of a US smear campaign as his defense claimed. No, he was simply brought to justice for violating US laws while working for an US-based organization. Yet […]
United States foreign policy has lacked an aspirational guiding principle for a generation. One reason might be the historic volatility of political parties, unlike anything in the past century. United States foreign policy has a record of long-term trends that depend in part on the political parties in power. During the Cold War, for example, […]
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 […]
