Learning the Lessons of Failure in Venezuela

James Bosworth looks back at the failed experiment with U.S.-led international backing for Juan Guaidó as “interim” president of Venezuela:Disputed elections are far too common in Latin America, but only rarely has such a divide between the de jure and de facto...

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Beware the Hawkish Consensus on China

Judah Grunstein warns against the entrenchment of the hawkish consensus on China:The result is that competition and even potential conflict are now considered the default position for relations with China; those who suggest that cooperation – even on existential...

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Kennan and the Pitfalls of Containment

Fredrik Logevall reviews Frank Costigliola’s forthcoming biography of George Kennan:Costigliola’s unmatched familiarity with the diaries is on full display, and although he does not shy away from quoting from some of their more unsavory parts, his overall assessment...

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Retrenchment and Being an ‘Ordinary Country’

Jonathan Katz tears apart George Packer’s essay on a “new theory of American power”:More importantly, who is “overdoing” what “retrenchment,” and where? The U.S. still operates at least 750 military bases in 81 countries and territories – on every continent except...

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Intervention Still Isn’t the Answer in Haiti

The New York Times ran a long article today on Haiti and the Biden administration’s push for a foreign intervention force. The article leans heavily to the pro-intervention side in the debate and makes it seem as if it is the only option, and in the process it makes...

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