Biden’s Foreign Policy

The death of a legendary diplomat raises difficult questions about his legacy.

For a crisis with so many moving parts, the U.S. president has fared pretty well.

From Kissinger to Kerry, Washington’s top diplomat once visited Beijing regularly. Not anymore.

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

The United States has supported the so-called dictators’ bank to rival China in Central America—and funded El Salvador’s authoritarian descent in the process.

The Chinese president’s strong-arm diplomacy hasn’t worked.

The Western world has misunderstood what the global south really wants.

As the drug has spread, AMLO has blocked efforts to track and control it.

From new panda promises to failed AI compromises, here are the biggest wins and losses of this week’s U.S.-China tête-à-tête.

Note to Congress: Ukraine aid is not charity but serves critical U.S. interests.

Efforts to reestablish communication channels dominated the highly anticipated summit.

In tying Washington to Israel’s war in Gaza, the U.S. president now shares responsibility for the broader conflict’s fate.

While deliverables are likely to be modest, Wednesday’s meeting could yield progress on shared priorities.

After all the death and destruction, the situation will be no closer to a resolution than it was before Oct. 7.

Skeptical of trade deals, Washington is working through development banks instead.

The country’s youngest-ever leader has less than 18 months to govern before the next election.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken continues to butt heads with key regional leaders on calls for an Israel-Hamas cease-fire.

Long a nonstarter in Washington, it may now be the best source of common ground with Beijing.

The new debates over aid to Ukraine and Israel have opened an old wound: avoiding too many foreign entanglements.

It’s a crazy idea—and it unfortunately needs debunking.

The country must be held to the laws and conventions that regulate warfare.

Washington ignores Sisi’s human rights abuses in exchange for his enforcement of Gaza’s blockade.

The Iranian-backed militant group pledged more strikes if Israel continues its ground offensive in Gaza.

While Israeli forces launch a new ground raid into Gaza, the United States goes after Iranian-backed militias.

The country’s adversaries around the world may sense Washington is stretched too thin.

Winning the race to develop this critical technology will require a little help from friends.

Although it will prove a challenging partner, Cairo has critical interests and strong leverage in Gaza.

Continued support for both wars is a matter of U.S. national security, the president said.

Washington agrees to lift sanctions on Caracas in exchange for a pledge of free elections.

Washington’s tunnel vision risks eroding U.S. standing in the global south.

The administration’s regional security concept has collapsed. Does the president know it?

How 30 years of U.S. policy ended in disaster.

The retired U.S. general and former CIA director on lessons from the war on terrorism and why military action is necessary—but not sufficient.

As violence flares, Washington has shown it has influence, while Brussels’s policies have shown weakness.

Washington’s conflicting views of Qatar reflect the constraints of U.S.-Middle East policy.

Such sentiments stymie discussion of the harder questions around Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

The White House will send nearly $2 billion to Israel.

U.S. support for Israel’s incursion could enable mass atrocities.

The starting point for the new Middle East will be an Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, not an Israeli Embassy in Riyadh.

The inauspicious return of the Cold War strategy of “Pactomania.”

Thirty years of the peace process has left us with less land and fewer rights.

While Washington sits idly by, the region is on the brink of falling into Tehran’s orbit.

The Biden administration has refrained from issuing a strong statement about allegations that the Indian government was involved in the assassination of a Sikh activist.

Today, there are more terror groups in existence, in more countries around the world, and with more territory under their control than ever before.

Congressional performance artists are holding U.S. foreign policy hostage.

The agreement will bolster Kyiv’s struggling economy and enhance its military manufacturing capabilities.

At the United Nations, Lula makes the case for Brazil.

But right-wing pushback could kill Ukraine’s weapons wish list before it leaves the U.S. Congress’s floor.

A recent book makes the case for collaboration in an increasingly competitive industry.

And it should stop trying.

The region’s four major countries have all forfeited Washington’s trust.

How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.

The secretary of state’s trip was meant to signal continued U.S. support for Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

History suggests the Republican Party will continue to argue over foreign policy beyond the MAGA era.

A military long shaped by Washington’s priorities now needs to modernize.

Russia’s war and China’s rise are turning a talking shop into a fledgling alliance of democracies.

There’s a dangerous flip side to Saudi Arabia’s potential new diplomatic deal.

The buzzword is everywhere, but defining the concept of U.S.-China de-risking isn’t so easy.

Americans and Chinese have to rehumanize each other in terms of the way we conceive of our problems and engage.

The Biden administration’s issues-based approach to working with China was misguided from the start.

A new campaign is blurring the lines of what’s implicated in forced labor.

But the Biden administration’s latest negotiations with Tehran are still the best option available.

Can the F-35—and the United States—keep up with new competition?

Nathaniel Fick on running the State Department’s new Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy.

Ambitious leaders in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are restructuring national identity to solidify their rule.

Heather Boushey defends the administration’s industrial policy approach.

Silicon Valley’s congressman on how to reset the U.S.-China relationship.

For years, Western policies have only paid lip service to seeing the Sahel in terms of its own immense problems.

There’s bipartisan support—but taking aim at the wrong problem.

U.S. films entertain the world—and distort policy at home.

There are limits to what U.S. President Joe Biden may be willing and able to do when intervening in the politics and governance of a close ally.

Measures intended to punish autocrats are eroding the very Western order they were meant to preserve.

Washington’s desire for Balkan stability has overtaken its support for democracy, the rule of law, and anti-corruption.

Seven months after the formation of the Israeli government, the prime minister still hasn’t been asked to visit Washington.

In times of political instability, Washington prefers the nuclear devil it knows.

Gang leaders in the country aren’t independent warlords. They are part of how the state functions.

Technologist Dan Wang on the impact of U.S. sanctions on Beijing.

Why the United States will regret putting effort into its latest Middle East policy.

Panic and fear should not drive U.S. foreign policy.

It is now a waiting game—and that’s how it should be.

U.S. wishful thinking that New Delhi will counter Beijing has created an arms import behemoth.

Here’s how to escape it—before it’s too late.

The former secretary of state is a genius—just not at what you might think.

It’s not just Putin who has re-embraced nuclear threats. The U.S. and China are also cracking open the door.

A Cold War crouch is inimical to a free, open, and flourishing society.

It would be a dramatic accomplishment, but not nearly as transformational as many may think.

A new book overplays the domestic roots of Sino-U.S. confrontation and underestimates its geopolitical logic.

So-called fence-sitters are rejecting zero-sum geopolitical binaries in favor of multi-alignment.

A policy shift toward economic engagement with Beijing seems to be underway in the White House.

Despite a strong foothold during the Cold War, Washington has since fumbled on the continent.

But what comes next is very much up in the air.

Khartoum now faces civil war. What does the U.S. have to do with it?

It’s time for the United States to prioritize members of the alliance that understand the Russian threat and are taking it seriously.

The United States has deepened its commitments to Serbia’s near-autocratic president and reoriented its regional posture to center Belgrade’s foreign-policy priorities.

The presidential election is around the corner—and that means “Scranton Joe” is about to take the international stage.

Westerners should ask instead what kind of partnerships their own countries offer to the continent.

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

By refusing negotiation over China’s rise, the United States might be making conflict inevitable.

A misguided effort to integrate the RSF into the Sudanese Armed Forces led to a tragic but predictable conflict.

The Pentagon’s top policymaker, Colin Kahl, details why the island is consequential to U.S. national security strategy.

The Pentagon’s top policymaker on Kyiv’s forthcoming spring offensive, the impact of recent leaks, and the long-term challenge of China.

How Washington and Beijing could stop the war in Europe.

Despite recent escalations, IR scholars think the chance of conflict hasn’t increased in the last year.

Strengthening the international justice system isn’t just the moral choice—it’s also the strategic one.

The West’s urge to counter China shouldn’t mean ignoring democratic erosion among its own coalition members.

Outside powers take a growing interest in this oil-rich African state where the U.S. Embassy has been closed since 2014.

The administration’s diplomacy has underperformed—except at time-wasting talk about democracy.

Taipei’s last diplomatic stand may well be in the Americas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s effort to weaken Israel’s democracy—and the public’s stunning resistance—has unsettled the country.

The vice president’s trip is the latest effort to counter Moscow’s and Beijing’s influence on the continent.

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.

Why alienate the very people whose expertise and connections might help Congress understand the Chinese government?

Twenty years on, the war still shapes policy—mostly for the worse.

The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Ad hoc, one-off decisions and lagging implementation are undermining the strategic effects of U.S. military assistance.

The first lunar era was defined by geopolitics. The winners of the next will be those who can triumph in economic competition and rule-making.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai counters critics who say the United States is fostering unfair competition.

New U.S. policies are eroding Taiwan’s dominance of the global chip industry. Will that jeopardize the island’s security?

Six years have passed without a special envoy. China and Russia will fill the void.

So unused to being challenged, the United States has become so filled with anxiety over China that sober responses are becoming nearly impossible.

But can he keep it up?

As the U.S. president hosts Lula, they must commit to defending democracy together.

Rhetoric aside, most congressional Republicans and Democrats agree on the key national security challenges the United States faces.

But Joe Biden shouldn’t play along.

The U.S. president’s State of the Union speech emphasized populism and protectionism, not global affairs. It must be election season already.

A surprising set of grades for the 46th U.S. president’s foreign policy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new right-wing government presents the Biden administration with some unpalatable and inconvenient choices.

Withholding support for Ukraine in reclaiming the territory risks undermining gains made thus far.

We asked 20 experts to grade the administration’s foreign policy after two years in office.

Turkey isn’t East or West. It’s Turkey.

Iran and Israel may set Washington’s agenda for the next two years.

Some brief foreign-policy advice for the newest members of the U.S. legislature.

Washington has stepped up its game in the region but is constrained by its unwillingness to do trade deals.

The incoming class of House Democrats is set to be one of the most progressive ever.

Russia, Ukraine, China, and nukes: Here are the biggest foreign-policy challenges facing the U.S. next year.

Guardrails and statesmanship will be even more important this time around.

FP’s five best episodes of 2022.

From the midterms to billionaire Elon Musk, 2022 yet again made clear why foreign policy begins at home.

African leaders must be more imaginative and proactive in pooling their efforts and setting the agenda.

For Washington, self-imposed restraint will always be a contradiction in terms.

The U.S. counterterrorism strategy in Africa isn’t working, and it hasn’t for decades. It’s time for a new approach.

Washington should build on past three-way Turkey-U.S.-SDF arrangements to put a real offer on the table.

A new history ties the genre to U.S. atrocities—not always convincingly.

Republicans in Congress can help sharpen the Biden administration’s cautious internationalism and work to restore decisive U.S. global leadership.

Washington’s relationship with the YPG is a useful foil for the Turkish president ahead of the 2023 election.

It would free them to embrace better policies toward Cuba.

The inside track on the week’s biggest diplomatic gathering.

Smiles and handshakes won’t erase Taiwan tensions.

If the JCPOA really is dead, the United States will soon have to choose from a range of bad options.

Why it’s still too soon for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

As Trumpism deflates, internationalist Republicans will press the Biden administration on China, defense, and trade.

Washington can no longer afford its self-defeating “with us or against us” attitude.

The last thing either leader wants right now is a major confrontation.

Eager to stand out as a steadfast U.S. ally, Tirana often entangles itself in geopolitical issues far from its shores.

Republicans may disagree on policy, but their principles will help the United States navigate a fragmenting world.

What Kyiv, Moscow, Tehran, and Riyadh can expect if Republicans take control of the U.S. Congress.

In the era of great-power competition, America’s Frontier Fund aims to harness venture capital to advance U.S. strategic interests.

The strategic implications of the 20th Party Congress cut in two different directions.

The U.S. left has yet to understand that Ukraine needs to fight—for all of us.

A second term for Gov. Ron DeSantis could impact everything from immigration to global climate efforts.

The long-awaited document leaves more questions than answers about the White House’s approach to global crises.

Without a credible and locally owned political road map, another intervention will do little to strengthen Haiti.

In many ways, Trump’s actions weakened both Israel’s security and that of the Jewish community in the United States.

There are two basic ways to think about the war—and the world.

The new U.S. National Security Strategy is a guide to protecting a liberal world under chronic threat.

Washington commits to the Indo-Pacific—and tempers democracy promotion in order to win partners against China.

A renewed focus on great-power rivalry ratifies a sea change in U.S. thinking.

The standoff 60 years ago has newfound relevance as Russian President Vladimir Putin threatens to deploy nukes in Ukraine.

Check Russia, fend off China, boost the middle class—the paper has everything, including some tensions.

The U.S. president has committed to rapid decoupling, whatever the consequences.

The Biden administration’s fear of provoking Putin and risking World War III has become an excuse to do less for Ukraine.

With the OPEC+ production cut, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made it clear he’ll do as he pleases, regardless of U.S. objections or interests.

Victory in Ukraine could easily mean hubris in Washington.

There are several politically inconvenient realities its detractors and defenders should consider.

On Middle East politics, Jared Kushner is not the disruptor he says he is.

Al Qaeda once again has a safe haven in Afghanistan, endangering Americans.

Six months into Russia’s war, seven thinkers outline its impact on foreign policy.

Tossed and rewritten after Russia invaded Ukraine, the document still hasn’t been released.

The case for U.S. restraint in Ukraine, Taiwan, and beyond.

Indiana’s governor follows in the footsteps of other national lawmakers led by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The West has inflicted damage on the Russian economy, but Putin has so far contained those costs.

A nearly $1 billion U.S. arms sale to the country will promote further violence.

The White House’s crowning domestic policy achievement can’t reach its full potential without engaging the world.

The U.S. secretary of state is urging Kigali, Kinshasa, and others to stop backing militias in the region—but a lasting peace deal remains elusive.

The country’s military violates human rights with impunity—and gets a pass in Washington.

The Biden administration insists it’s not focused on geopolitical competition, but its new document is full of references to Russia and China.

Michael Mandelbaum has written a masterful interpretation of the twists and turns of U.S. foreign policy.

The U.S. president’s trip was an immediate and time-limited response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, domestic economic woes, and Iran.

For too long, Washington has sacrificed its principles to appease the kingdom—and gotten almost nothing in return.

His trip won’t lower gas prices, but it can shore up Washington’s global standing.

Washington has a golden opportunity to finally do less in Europe.

As the U.S. midterms near, Washington is plagued by groupthink and a lack of vision that prevents creative solutions to the problems of a new era.

The Biden administration is reportedly considering a formal defense agreement with the UAE. Here’s why it shouldn’t.

The U.S. president’s upcoming trip to the region is being driven largely by a domestic political crisis linked to the price of oil.

The discourse surrounding Russia’s war on Ukraine has created strange bedfellows.

James Kirchick chronicles how the persecution of gay men in Washington tragically altered 20th-century foreign policy.

It’s not about democracy. It’s about power.

Decades of ignoring the menaces posed by Russia and China has led the West to a precipice.

The West must demonstrate resolve for Ukraine to prosper as a sovereign nation.