Americas

Best Defense

Burns’s ‘Vietnam’ 4: I think I see the point. Maybe.

By Charles A. Krohn Best Defense war TV critic T.R. Fehrenbach, in his classic book about the Korean War, says that bombs from the ...

Elephants in the Room

The Logic Hole at the Center of Trump’s U.N. Speech

It was not a very good speech. Such presidential United Nations General Assembly speeches rarely are. It is hard to conjure a theme. But this ...

Report

U.S. Weighs Options on Detainees in Iran

The Donald Trump administration faces a pivotal decision in coming weeks on how far it is willing to push to secure the release of several ...

Elephants in the Room

The Fatal Flaw in Trump’s U.N. Speech Could Be Disastrous for American Power

First the good news: President Donald Trump did not sound like the late, great U.N. fulminator Hugo Chávez, nor the incendiary former Iranian President Mahmoud ...

Lawfare

Scoops on Paul Manafort Raise New Questions About the Russia Investigation

CNN and the New York Times yesterday published dueling scoops on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. As former FBI director James Comey might put it: ...

The Cable

Twitter Suspended Far Fewer Terrorist Accounts in First Half of 2017

Twitter suspended 300,000 accounts for promoting terrorism during the sixth-month period ending June 30, 2017, a 20 percent drop compared to the previous six-month period, ...

Report

At U.N., Trump Threatens to ‘Totally Destroy’ North Korea

U.S. President Donald Trump delivered a fiery, combative speech to the United Nations General Assembly, threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea, denouncing the Iran nuclear ...

Best Defense

‘Vietnam’ Episode 3: Casting the die

By Charles A. Krohn Best Defense war TV critic By the end of 1964 the North Vietnamese are so triumphant, South Vietnam so poorly ...

Elephants in the Room

The United States is Losing the War on Drugs in the Americas

Last week, the Trump administration issued a stark warning to Colombia: Unless it improves efforts to reduce coca cultivation and cocaine production, it runs the risk of ...

Argument

Mea Culpa: I Said Trump and Bibi Would Blow Up

A year or so ago in this space — or what feels like a year — I predicted that it would be only a matter ...

The Cable

Iraqi President Cancels U.S. Trip Over Kurdish Referendum

Iraqi President Fuad Masum canceled his trip to the United States in order to address the upcoming Kurdish independence referendum, according to an email sent ...

The Cable

U.S. Trade Representative Slams China, WTO, in Rare Public Appearance

In a rare public appearance, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer doubled down on the Trump administration’s “America First” approach to trade policy, citing an erosion ...

Lawfare

What Will America Do With the U.S. Citizen It Is Holding as an Enemy Combatant?

The Department of Defense has confirmed that an (as-yet-unidentified) American citizen is being held in U.S. military custody in Syria or Iraq as an enemy ...

Voice

Harvard Fellowships Have Always Been a Joke

When Harvard University’s Institute of Politics (IOP) was established in 1966, its first honorary associate was former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Thirty-eight years later, ...

Elephants in the Room

Unpacking Trump’s ‘Alternative Facts’ on NAFTA

President Donald Trump has frequently threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), just like he has done — to deleterious effect ...

Shadow Government

It’s Time For a New Syria Peace Process

The United States appears to have given up on finding a comprehensive political settlement to Syria’s civil war. The topic has not been on the ...

Shadow Government

The U.S. Can’t Get Rid of North Korea’s Nukes Without Paying a Catastrophic Price

Kim Jong Un is on a roll. After firing a second missile over Japan, successfully testing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and successfully detonating a ...

Best Defense

Dogs: Sometimes you need to help them

Even if you are tired too. Photo Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Ryan Conroy/Released

The Cable

U.S. Navy Investigating if Destroyer Crash Was Caused by Cyberattack

The military is examining whether compromised computer systems were responsible for one of two U.S. Navy destroyer collisions with merchant vessels that occurred in recent ...

The Cable

A New Round of Syria Talks Start in Astana

A sixth round of negotiations over the Syrian conflict in Syria began Thursday in Astana, Kazakhstan, focused chiefly on the creation of a “de-escalation zone” ...

Exclusive

Iran Nuclear Deal Critics Push Plan for ‘Global Economic Embargo’

Opponents of the Iran nuclear deal are pushing a proposal that calls for President Donald Trump to declare that Tehran has failed to comply with ...

Exclusive

Why Is Erik Prince Backing a Secure Communications Company?

Erik Prince's plan to send a private military force to Afghanistan may not have worked out, but another venture he’s involved with has sunnier prospects: ...

Lawfare

Heckuva Job, Donnie!

With waters now receding in Houston and Florida, President Donald Trump is emerging from the first domestic crisis of this presidency that is not primarily ...

The Cable

Survey: Mexico’s View of U.S. Turns Drastically Negative

President Donald Trump’s immigration policy is pushing him out of favor with Mexicans, but it’s not making them any less eager to move to the ...

Lawfare

The Trump Team’s Accusations Against Comey Are Prototypical Abuses of Power

This afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, from the White House podium, declared that former FBI Director James Comey may have “violated federal ...

Voice

The Four Seasons of Kremlingate

There were a lot of major political stories this past summer amid the continuing disintegration of Donald Trump’s presidency. The defeat of the Senate health ...

The Cable

Feds Ban Government Use of Kaspersky Software

Federal government agencies are banned from using software developed by Kaspersky Lab, a Russian firm with alleged links to that country’s intelligence agencies, acting Secretary ...

Dispatch

Who Will Rule Raqqa After the Islamic State?

AIN ISSA, Syria — For three months, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been fighting to liberate Raqqa from the Islamic State and have ...

The Cable

Netanyahu Finally Supports a Two-State Solution — In Iraq

Iraqi Kurdistan’s quest for independence hasn’t gotten much international support so far. But on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made growing Israeli backing for ...

Best Defense

Book excerpt: Why the U.S. Army can’t do mission command, even when it tries to

The most troubling aspect of the Army’s bureaucratic mindset is the relegation of commanders from the role of leader to manager and administrator-in-chief. The cause ...

Best Defense

Vietnam: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick take a long look at the war that took our sunshine away

By Charles A. Krohn Best Defense TV reviewer Before our Vietnam experience, most Americans trusted their leadership and stood behind decisions to halt Communist ...

Dispatch

A Language Haven in Baltimore

BALTIMORE — On June 29, 1987, Jermin Laviera attended her first English-language lesson still wearing her wedding dress. Though she had just arrived in Baltimore ...

The Cable

Syrian Army, U.S-Backed Forces Rub Shoulders In Eastern Syria

U.S.-backed militias and the Syrian Army are less than 10 miles from each other as they converge on the Islamic State stronghold of Deir Ezzour ...

The Cable

As Myanmar Cracks Down on Rohingya, Washington ‘Asleep at the Switch’

The brutal repression of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority by state security forces has sparked a massive refugee crisis in recent weeks but so far has ...

Shadow Government

Here’s How Congress Can Save the State Department

Each week brings fresh reports that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s tenure at the State Department is a self-inflicted institutional disaster. A mass exodus of ...

Lawfare

Mueller Is Right to Follow the Money

“Follow the money.” Mark Felt, the deceased FBI executive who was Watergate’s “Deep Throat,” may not have actually whispered those words to reporter Bob Woodward. But ...

Dispatch

Undocumented and on Patrol in Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas — Jaime Carrillo emerges from his faded pink house wearing blue jeans, boots, and a black cowboy hat. After a long day ...

Lawfare

Will Apple’s New iOS 11 Make Border Searches More Difficult?

Unlike most Silicon Valley companies, Apple’s business model is one of "data liability." Unlike Google or Facebook which use advertising to extract value from users’ ...

Best Defense

Hurricane Harvey dogs

Getting a ride from the Navy. Photo credit: Christopher Lindahl/ U.S. Navy

Feature

A Sneak Peek at America’s War Plans for North Korea

In a secret underground base, Command Post Tango, the combined headquarters of the U.S.-South Korean command, is abuzz with activity. North Korean artillery has pummeled ...

The Cable

Senate Committee Votes Against Administration on Anti-Abortion Global Gag Rule

In a vote that marks a rejection of the Trump administration’s foreign aid budget and approach to family planning policy abroad, the Senate Appropriations Committee ...

Lawfare

The Senate’s Russia Investigators Need to Slow Down

Last week, Politico reported that congressional investigations are ramping up “as lawmakers return from the August recess amid fresh revelations about contacts between the Trump ...

Shadow Government

The United States Should Talk to North Korea

The United States wants North Korea to stop testing, stop developing, and eventually stop having nuclear weapons that can target America and its allies. Washington ...

Lawfare

Trump’s DACA Decision Defies All Norms

On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was an “unconstitutional exercise of authority” and would be rescinded. ...

Best Defense

Here we go again in Afghanistan

By John Q. Bolton Best Defense guest columnist The newly announced Afghanistan strategy differs only in style, not substance, from the strategies of the ...

The Cable

SitRep: Afghan Surge Coming; All Sorts of Action on North Korea

By Paul McLeary with Adam Rawnsley Afghanistan, again. The magic number for Afghanistan appears to be 3,500. That’s the number of U.S. troops that ...

The Cable

U.N. Commission Calls Out Syrian Government for Sarin Attack

Investigators at the United Nations said Wednesday that the Syrian government was responsible for the April 4 sarin gas attack that killed at least 83 ...

The Cable

U.S. Sanctions South Sudanese Leaders

The United States is ratcheting up pressure on the South Sudanese government over a conflict that’s teetering on the brink of genocide. On Wednesday, Washington ...

Shadow Government

Here’s How to Build an Alternative Agenda in the Age of Donald Trump

I think most of us can agree that so far the age of President Donald Trump has been exhausting. In nine long months, he has ...

The Cable

Key Figure Behind ‘Trump Dossier’ Stonewalled Senate Investigators

Glenn Simpson, the former journalist whose company was involved in the production of the now infamous “Trump Dossier,” invoked his First Amendment rights during testimony ...

Elephants in the Room

Trump Is Considering the Worst Possible Response to the North Korean Threat

As North Korea escalates its nuclear threat, many foreign-policy minds will set to work thinking about the best possible response. For the moment, though, think ...

Elephants in the Room

We Are Witnessing the Elimination of Christian Communities in Iraq and Syria

Do we want to be the generation that stood by as Christians disappeared almost entirely from the ancient homelands they have occupied since the days ...

Elephants in the Room

Trump Needs a Real North Korea Strategy, Fast

In the wake of North Korea’s most dangerous nuclear test yet — one reportedly yielding enough destructive power to eliminate a city — it is ...

Argument

Reading Trump Tweets in Pyongyang

Worst-case scenarios are awful things. Just ask the many people around the world kept awake by Pyongyang’s rapid nuclear progress, as demonstrated by its latest ...

Elephants in the Room

Iran, Turkey, and Russia Aren’t Natural Friends. It’s Up to the U.S. to Keep It That Way.

One of the more curious and troubling developments in the course of the Syrian civil war has been Turkey's rapprochement with Russia and cooperation with ...

Argument

North Korea’s Nuclear and Missile Tests Are Aimed at Splitting Its Rivals

On September 3, North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test, soon after claiming it had miniaturized an advanced nuclear warhead. This came just days after ...

Argument

North Korean Nuclear Test Spites Both Washington and Beijing

At 3 p.m. Pyongyang time on September 3, the beaming face of matronly newscaster Ri Chun Hee announced to North Koreans that the test of ...

Elephants in the Room

Trump’s Afghanistan Strategy Could Actually Work

While I support President Donald Trump’s decision last week to recommit the United States to the war in Afghanistan, it’s not hard to understand why ...

Shadow Government

The Iran Deal Is Keeping the Middle East From Going Nuclear. Why Does Trump Want to Blow It Up?

Few international agreements are as important to U.S. national security as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal. ...

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