foreign policy

• 
• 4/24/2022
  

  Why I Can't Wave a Ukrainian Flag – A Dissenting Teach-In on Russia's Invasion

  by Daniel Herman

  "If Americans who fly Ukrainian flags actually want to help Ukrainians, they would be well advised to support diplomatic negotiations rather than limitless flows of weaponry."

• 
• SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
  4/12/2022
  

  The Ukraine Temptation – Can Biden Resist a New Cold War?

  by Stephen Wertheim

  A bid to restore global military primacy is no more merited today than it was before the invasion. 

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  4/4/2022
  

  In Ukraine, the US Likely to Follow Kissinger's Example and Disappoint Idealists

  by Jeffrey Fields

  "From tacit support of the murderous dictator Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War to Washington’s close relationship with brutal human rights abuser Saudi Arabia, the U.S. frequently chooses to put its own interest ahead of its professed values."

• 
• SOURCE: Jewish Currents
  3/24/2022
  

  Stephen Wertheim on Danger of Escalating a Cold War with Russia

  by David Klion

  "This is a tragedy, and Vladimir Putin is mainly responsible for it, but the world that will emerge from this war in Ukraine will be poorer, more divided, and more heavily armed."

• 
• 3/27/2022
  

  Can Joe Biden Resist War Pressure and Lead Toward Peace?

  by Martin Halpern

  It will take political courage and wisdom for Biden to resist a policy course toward war by diplomatic engagement with Russia.

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• SOURCE: War on The Rocks
  3/22/2022
  

  Beware the Imperative in Foreign Policymaking

  by Michael J. Mazarr

  When foreign policy decisions are presented as imperative – that some action must be taken –  consideration for the consequences is often neglected. 

• 
• 3/20/2022
  

  Afghanistan's Lesson: Plan for What Happens After Russia Leaves Ukraine

  by Aaron Brown

  Expelling Russian forces through military aid would be a victory for the US and NATO, but not a final one. 

• 
• SOURCE: Governing
  3/10/2022
  

  The Long History of American Isolationism

  by Lindsay Chervinsky

  Since the days of George Washington, the imperatives of American economic development and hegemony over the western hemisphere, and the desire to avoid European wars, have been in tension. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/14/2022
  

  Before Biden, Presidents Have Found it Hard to Keep Promises to Avoid War

  History shows that Biden's pledge to avoid US involvement in the war between Russia and Ukraine will hold up – until it doesn't.

• 
• SOURCE: New Statesman
  3/8/2022
  

  John Mearsheimer and the Dark Origins of Realism

  by Adam Tooze

  The vitriol aimed at Mearsheimer's diagnosis of the Russia-Ukraine conflict transcends academic debate and points to the liberal west's frustration at how little it can actually influence Russia. It's a missed opportunity to reflect on the roots and influence of his realist philosophy.

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  3/8/2022
  

  Ukraine's Wakeup Call: A Global Age is Here

  by Karen J. Greenberg

  Whether it's cyberwarfare or energy prices, the impacts of the invasion of Ukraine on Americans will be significant, and national leaders need to respond in ways that recognize global interconnections. 

• 
• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  3/1/2022
  

  A Purgatorial Message from JFK to Joe Biden

  by Andrew Bacevich

  "I urge you to think carefully before making the leap into such an unmourned past.  Whatever your political advisers may imagine, displays of presidential toughness aren’t what our nation needs right now."

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• SOURCE: New Statesman
  3/3/2022
  

  Sanctions are an Economic Weapon. Targeting Matters

  by Nicholas Mulder

  The Biden approach shows a reframing of economic sanctions from being a deterrent to being a non-military weapon of war. This has happened before, and history shows that sanctions against an aggressor nation can be expected to fail unless they are paired with aid to Ukraine.

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• SOURCE: Responsible Statecraft
  3/1/2022
  

  Honduran President Was Washington's Man, Until He Wasn't

  Propped up in large part as a bulwark against a leftist political insurgency, Juan Orlando Hernandez's usefulness to American interests has apparently diminished sufficiently for his indictment on drug trafficking charges to proceed. 

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• SOURCE: Vox
  3/1/2022
  

  Ukraine Shows Limits of US Power

  Historians and diplomats including Stephen Wertheim and Joseph Nye offer insight on the limits of what American power can achieve toward stopping Russian aggression in Ukraine. 

• 
• 2/27/2022
  

  Time is Short and the Tests are Stern for the Biden Presidency

  by Simon Serfaty

  After his election on the promise of a restoration of normalcy, international events have been particularly unfavorable to Joe Biden. Fair or not, his political survival hinges on resolving a set of crises with no time to spare. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Review of Books
  2/3/2022
  

  Who's Afraid of Isolationism?

  by Stephen Wertheim

  It's past time for "isolationism" to stop being a dirty word in discussing America's relationship to the world. The use of the term as a pejorative has justified too many ill-considered military interventions.

• 
• SOURCE: Commonweal
  2/2/2022
  

  A Mournful Legacy: Ukraine and the Recovery of Moral Realism

  by Andrew Bacevich

  Joe Biden should revisit David Halberstam's classic "The Best and the Brightest" to remember what happens when people mistake their own ideological preferences for savvy and realistic pragmatism as he contemplates intervention in Ukraine. 

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Review of Books
  12/3/2021
  

  Not Humane, Just Invisible: A Counternarrative to Samuel Moyn’s “Humane”

  by Priya Satia

  A historian of empire takes issue with a recent book examining the contradiction between changes that make war supposedly less brutal while also making it les 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  11/29/2021
  

  Isaac Chotiner Interviews Martin Indyk about Henry Kissinger

  Does Martin Indyk's new book on Henry Kissinger, who is a personal friend, have enough critical distance between subject and author, asks interviewer Isaac Chotiner.