There is a lot of chatter from the usual suspects about how Biden will need to “reassure” allies and clients following the withdrawal from Afghanistan, but that seems like a serious mistake. First, it’s not at all obvious that allies and clients genuinely need any...
The Forever War Goes to Congo
The forever war has now apparently expanded to the Congo:US special operations forces have arrived in the east of the DR Congo to help in the fight against a feared jihadist militia enjoying "sanctuary" in the region's nature parks, US and Congolese sources said...
Cultivating Dependent Clients Is a Recipe for Failure
Anatol Lieven explains how the failure to anticipate the collapse of Afghan government forces illustrates how little the US understands Afghanistan even after twenty years:I remembered this episode three years later, when the Communist state eventually fell to the...
Daniel Larison: Drawing Lessons From Afghanistan
Bret Stephens is in full fearmongering mode:Now, in the aftermath of Saigon redux, every enemy will draw the lesson that the United States is a feckless power, with no lasting appetite for defending the Pax Americana that is still the basis for world order. And every...
Why Using the Right Names for Things Matters
Jonathan Katz spoke with Emma Green at The Atlantic about the resistance he encountered to using accurate language while writing a piece about Haiti and possible U.S. intervention there for an unnamed publication. Katz ended up taking the piece elsewhere, and Foreign...
The Bad Faith Hawkish Credibility Argument Just Won’t Die
If there’s one thing hawks enjoy, it is creating doubt about U.S. reliability:Mr. Biden “knows from long experience that America’s actions abroad matter, but he is willingly ignoring the far-reaching consequences of America’s withdrawal in Afghanistan,” said Bradley...
End the Illegal US Military Presence in Syria
While testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a top Biden administration Pentagon official confirmed today that the illegal US military presence in Syria would continue:The Biden administration is committed to retaining US military presence in...
Why Do We Fight? Don’t Ask
Derek Davison commented on the three U.S. strikes in Somalia that have taken place in the last few weeks, and noted that there is hardly anyone asking why the US is engaged in hostilities in Somalia in 2021:There’s no questioning why al-Shabab, whose current ambitions...
The Moral Bankruptcy of the Iran Hawks
Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh dress up the same failed sanctions approach as a “new approach" to Iran:Since sanctions became serious in 2018, Iran has seen major demonstrations without protesters venting against America. The clerical regime views these protests as...
Answering a Misguided Polemic Against Restraint
Daniel Deudney and G. John Ikenberry have written a long article in Survival criticizing foreign policy restraint in general and the Quincy Institute in particular. (Full disclosure: I regularly write for the Quincy Institute’s Responsible Statecraft website and...


