Author: Daniel Larison

Paul Poast is half-right in his assessment of Biden’s foreign policy:

To put it bluntly, the Biden administration’s approach to foreign policy is realpolitik from top to bottom. This isn’t necessarily bad. A realpolitik approach to foreign policy enables Biden to do what he can in the face of constrained U.S. capability. Liberal hegemony is easy when it’s easy to be a hegemon. But when it’s not, ideological purity is often sacrificed for the sake of national interests.

Poast gets the cynicism of Biden’s foreign policy right, but he underrates the importance of the president’s ideological framing of the conflicts that the U.S. is supporting. It’s true that “the protection of democracy doesn’t appear to be driving Biden’s foreign policy in practice,” as Poast says, but Biden does wrap up the same old hegemonist status quo in that packaging. For Biden, “defending democracy” is a convenient way to distinguish himself from the strongman-admiring Trump rhetorically and also pose as democracy’s global champion without having to act differently from the way that his predecessors, including Trump, acted on the world stage.

Continue reading “The Cynicism of Biden’s ‘Defense’ of Democracy”

Hal Brands repeats a very popular lie about U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East:

Every recent president gets their Middle Eastern war, whether they want it or not. Since Ronald Reagan’s time, each administration has engaged in at least one significant military conflict in the region. Even presidents who wanted nothing more than to escape the Middle East were, almost ineluctably, dragged back in. Now it’s Joe Biden’s turn.

Every time that the U.S. has involved itself in wars in the Middle East, it has done so by choice. There was no vital interest that compelled the U.S. to send troops to Lebanon or to support Iraq in its war with Iran. The U.S. then chose to intervene to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait, and then it chose to keep a significant military presence in the region after the war. Clinton’s military operations in Iraq were relatively minor, but they were far from being obligatory.

Continue reading “The US Has Never Been ‘Dragged’ Into the Middle East”

Peter Beinart is a bit shocked by the sheer cruelty of the U.S. and European cutoff of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA):

What does that mean in the midst of this humanitarian cataclysm? UNRWA is currently sheltering 1.2 million displaced people in Gaza, as 90% of people in Gaza have been displaced from their homes. It’s providing health care services to roughly 1 million people in Gaza. It is the lead actor in providing the humanitarian assistance – what little humanitarian assistance there is – that gives people in Gaza the chance that they might eat a bite of food that day, that their children might not die of typhoid or cholera. Probably the single most important institution in standing between people in Gaza and death right now is UNRWA. And the Biden administration is gonna suspend aid to UNRWA at this moment?

Continue reading “Halting UNRWA Funding Is Malicious Collective Punishment”

Three U.S. servicemen were killed and dozens others were injured by a drone attack on their base in Jordan today. This latest attack is one of more than 160 launched since October 7 by local militias in Iraq and Syria at bases where U.S. forces are stationed. The war in Gaza and the Biden administration’s unconditional backing for the war have led to this terrible, predictable outcome. The costs of Biden’s backing for the war keep increasing.

Iraqi militias claimed responsibility for the attack:

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group for Iran-linked militias including Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a senior official with the organization, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with rules set by the group.

Continue reading “The Costs of Biden’s Backing for the War in Gaza Keep Increasing”

The U.S. and Britain continue to wage war on Yemen while pretending that they aren’t at war:

The U.S. and U.K. launched strikes against eight Houthi targets Monday, the two countries said, in a continuing bid to stop the Yemeni rebel group’s attacks on ships transiting the Red Sea.

Continue reading “Biden’s ‘Sustained Campaign’ in Yemen Is Illegal and Pointless”

The immediate consequences of U.S./U.K. military action in Yemen shouldn’t surprise anyone. Just as opponents of the strikes said, attacking the Houthis has made the threat to commercial shipping worse:

The US and UK’s decision to hit back at Houthi militants after weeks of attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea has only escalated the chaos across the shipping industry, underscoring the threat of an enduring supply-chain crisis as vessels navigate the crucial trade route.

Continue reading “Biden’s Dangerous Yemen Blunder Is Already Backfiring”