About Elephants in the Room
Elephants in the Room is a blog about U.S. foreign policy in the age of Trump, written by experienced GOP policymakers, scholars, and others not currently working in the new administration. It is curated by co-editors Peter D. Feaver and William Inboden.
Iraq Needs Regime Change Again
Musical chairs in the Iraqi parliament can no longer solve the country's problems.
Sudan Is Remaking Its Relationship With the Rest of the World
From meeting with Netanyahu to working with the ICC, the new government is reversing the foreign policy of the Bashir era.
The Greenback Needs a Digital Makeover
To preserve the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency, the United States can’t let China get ahead on cryptocurrency.
Trump’s Real Trade War Is Being Waged on the WTO
By undermining the organization’s dispute resolution body, the administration is undoing decades of rules-based economic cooperation—to the United States’ own peril.
U.S. and Iranian Choices Are Getting Dangerously Narrow
Even if neither side wants war, the road ahead is hazardous.
Democratic Frontrunners Are Wrong About Aid for Israel
Putting America’s annual $3.8 billion of military assistance to Israel on the chopping block makes for good politics. But it makes no sense for U.S. national security.
Trump Battled the Navy. Here Are the Casualties.
Ten takeaways from the biggest civil-military crisis (so far) of the Trump administration.
The Realists Are Wrong About Syria
Neither Trump nor the international relations experts who cheered his choice to withdraw U.S. troops have wrestled adequately with the costs of departure.
U.S. Deterrence in the Middle East Is Collapsing
The withdrawal from Syria is part of a broader pattern of weakness, especially in response to Iran.
Maduro Is Playing a Dangerous Game on the Colombian Border
Tensions and lawlessness could spiral into armed conflict.
Galleries
A Week in World Photos
Migrants in the Mediterranean, a mass masked wedding in South Korea, and a melting glacier in the French Alps.
A Week in World Photos
Rebel fighters in Syria, protesters at the U.S.-Mexico border, and migrants in Greece.
In the Magazine
In the Magazine
Can Social Democrats Save the World (Again)?
Communism and democratic socialism won’t heal today’s political divisions. But social democracy—which helped ward off extremism following World War II—could.
Why Socialism Won’t Work
Capitalism is still the best way to handle risk and boost innovation and productivity.
How Climate Change Has Supercharged the Left
Global warming could launch socialists to unprecedented power—and expose their movement’s deepest contradictions.
Why the Berlin Wall Still Matters
Fragments of the wall have become museum pieces. But with the rise of extremist parties in Germany, the debate over the barrier’s legacy is anything but history.