Ideas
The Mothers Who Fled the Turkish Incursion
Attacks by Turkish-backed forces shattered a hard-won pseudo-normalcy for Syrian women who had lived under ISIS.
Ideas
Betraying The Kurds Makes Things Harder for US Operators Everywhere
It will henceforth be much more difficult for U.S. combat forces and advisors to get help from local partners around the world.
Threats
The Mad Scramble for Syria
After weeks of chaos in the northeast, great powers redrew a small chunk of the map. And a bigger story is just beginning.
Policy
McConnell Asked White House For Sanctions Position, Dem Senator Says
The Senate majority leader is weighing the myriad sanctions proposals on the Hill, Sen. Van Hollen said at the Defense One Outlook 2020 conference.
Ideas
Do Americans Still Want The US to Be the World’s Security Leader?
The post-Trump awakening of political activism is inspiring, but seems to end at the border. We’re teaming up with CNAS to find out why.
Ideas
It Was a Corrupt Quid Pro Quo
Not only did the president hold up aid to Ukraine; he made its release contingent on a statement advancing his own political interests.
Ideas
What It’s Like to Deal With US Foreign Policy in the Trump Era
The administration’s shadow foreign policy sees the light of day.
Ideas
Trump Isn’t a Climate Denier. He’s Worse.
Leaving the Paris Agreement and other efforts to slow the globe's transition from fossil fuels will ultimately undermine U.S. power.
Ideas
Yes-Men Are Taking Over the Trump Administration
Trump is making foreign policy on the fly, seeking his personal advantage and undermining American power.
Ideas
It’s Not All Trump’s Fault: Syria Shows the Danger of War on the Cheap
America’s surprise withdrawal is deeply destabilizing, but so is the proxy war that Western countries have fought for five years.
Ideas
The US Has One Last Chance to Halt Its Withdrawal from the Middle East
The next president must do what is wise, not what is easy.
Policy
Pentagon Vows to Guard the Syrian Oil That Trump Wants to Seize
That includes warding off Syrian and Russian forces, SecDef Esper says, with murky justification under domestic and international law.
Ideas
What Was the Point of the Syria ‘Withdrawal’?
Donald Trump, who vowed to get troops out of Syria altogether, incurred all the strategic costs without getting any of the political benefit.
Threats
US Troops, Armor Will ‘Secure’ Oil Fields in Syria, Says SecDef in New Reversal
The U.S. might also maintain “one of our two airfields that are there,” said America’s envoy to Syria to lawmakers.
Threats
Trump’s STRATCOM Pick Declines to Endorse Open-Skies Withdrawal
The Trump administration is weighing pulling out of the 1992 surveillance agreement amid complaints that Russia is out of compliance.
Ideas
The Consequences of Donald Trump Washing His Hands of the Middle East
The short-term costs have been brutal, but the longer-term ones could be far more significant.
Threats
Trump Declares Victory in Syria, Claims Credit for It All
“Let someone else fight over this long-bloodstained sand,” the president says, as Congress fumes.
Threats
Top SDF Commander: Turkey Blocking Kurds’ Retreat; Urges Trump to ‘Stop This War’
“I am asking President Trump right now to fulfill his promise to us and stop this war,” Mazlum Abdi told Defense One by phone.
Ideas
10 Hard Realities of America’s Next Syria Policy
The troops are leaving, but the U.S. still has regional and global interests in what happens there.
Ideas