Ideas

We Were Warned

When the inevitable inquiry into the government's response to COVID-19 happens, it will conclude that signs of a coming crisis were everywhere.

Ideas

America Is Alone in Its Cold War With China

If the Trump administration is truly going all-in on competition with Beijing, it’s not clear that Trump himself is fully on board. Nor, it’s now clear, are several of America’s closest friends.

Ideas

The Sanders Doctrine

The presidential candidate wants to redefine American power.

Ideas

America Has Come Full Circle in the Middle East

“We are opening a Pandora’s Box,” Dwight Eisenhower warned when he ordered the first U.S. combat mission in the region. Little did he know how right he would be.

Ideas

The Downed Jetliner Reminds Us that War Spins Out of Control

Mistakes and misperceptions bookended this latest episode in the long conflict between the U.S. and Iran. Expect that not to change.

Ideas

The Blueprint Iran Could Follow After Soleimani’s Death

Here’s what to expect after the U.S. killing of Iran’s most powerful military commander.

Ideas

What US Intelligence Thought 2020 Would Look Like

A 2004 National Intelligence Council report was eerily prescient in some ways, and totally off in others.

Ideas

In Iraq, the US Gets Hit Where It Hurts

The storming of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad demonstrated that America doesn’t have a monopoly on pressure.

Ideas

Inside the Collapse of Trump’s Korea Policy

When it comes to America’s last-ditch effort to prevent North Korea from becoming a nuclear power, timing has been everything. Now time’s running out.

Ideas

Under Trump, the US Has Become a Leading Source of Global Instability

The country is now a known unknown, increasing the risk of crises from the Middle East to East Asia to Central America, a new survey suggests.

Threats

How North Korea Soured on Donald Trump

Kim Jong Un only wanted to engage with the president. Now he’s turning on him.

Ideas

America Hasn’t Always Supported Ukraine Like This

For a policy that’s purportedly a pillar of the decades-old international order, military aid to Ukraine is pretty new.

Ideas

What America’s Allies Really Think About Trump’s Syria Decision

During a few wild weeks in October, U.S. allies watched as their own worst nightmare befell America’s Kurdish partners in Syria. Here’s what that means for America’s standing in the world.

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

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.

Ideas

On North Korea, the Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost

One of the downsides of highly personalized diplomacy is that when the person in question is debilitated, the diplomacy suffers.

Ideas

The Call Was Coming From Inside the White House

After 2016, Americans focused on the threat of election interference from abroad. What they overlooked was the danger at home.

Ideas

Trump's Transactional. And Estonia's President Is Cool With It.

"Thinking back historically, when everybody else said it nicely, we didn’t react,” Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid told us.

Ideas

Imagine If Obama Had Done This

Republicans have tolerated plenty of foreign-policy moves by Trump that they would never have let his predecessor get away with. Will that continue with Iran?

Threats

The Writing Was on the Wall With Afghanistan

The latest bout of bloodshed may have played some role in the actions Trump just took, but it is also a convenient out for an administration that had gone all in on a floundering initiative.