Eric Edelman and Ray Takeyh want the US to “help” Iranian protesters:They want regime change. The United States should help from afar by increasing sanctions and improving communication among the demonstrators. If most Iranians want to change their political system,...
Facing the Failure of Our Cruel Venezuela Policy
Venezuelan opposition legislators voted last week to dissolve their interim government, and with that they have ended the project of trying to replace Maduro with Juan Guaidó:But nearly four years later and with little to show for the effort, the experiment has come...
Kennan and the Pitfalls of Containment
Fredrik Logevall reviews Frank Costigliola’s forthcoming biography of George Kennan:Costigliola’s unmatched familiarity with the diaries is on full display, and although he does not shy away from quoting from some of their more unsavory parts, his overall assessment...
Retrenchment and Being an ‘Ordinary Country’
Jonathan Katz tears apart George Packer’s essay on a “new theory of American power”:More importantly, who is “overdoing” what “retrenchment,” and where? The U.S. still operates at least 750 military bases in 81 countries and territories – on every continent except...
There Is No Good Reason To Give Up on Diplomacy With Iran
Hillary Clinton offers some bad advice:The US should not be negotiating with Iran “on anything right now,” including a nuclear agreement, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday.“I would not be negotiating with Iran on anything right now, including...
Intervention Still Isn’t the Answer in Haiti
The New York Times ran a long article today on Haiti and the Biden administration’s push for a foreign intervention force. The article leans heavily to the pro-intervention side in the debate and makes it seem as if it is the only option, and in the process it makes...
The Danger of Taking Official Claims at Face Value
The Associated Press has fired the reporter behind an erroneous report that claimed that the missile that struck Poland last week had been fired by Russian forces. The original report relied on the word of a single anonymous U.S. intelligence official. An...
If You Wish the Iranian People Well, Stop Attacking Them With Sanctions
Walter Russell Mead jumps at the chance to push for regime change:But using all the diplomatic and economic tools at America’s disposal to help the Iranian people’s fight for freedom is both the right thing to do and the best way to advance U.S. interests at a...
Biden’s ‘Free Iran’ Blunder
Perhaps the president should stop talking for a while:President Joe Biden on Thursday told supporters “we’re gonna free Iran” after audience members appeared to call on him to address the ongoing protests that have spread through that country in the aftermath of the...
Sanctions Relief and the ‘Defensive Crouch’
Nahal Toosi reports on the political barriers to sanctions relief:In recent months, as Biden has mulled reducing such penalties against countries such as Venezuela and Iran, he’s run headlong into opposition in Congress. Some lawmakers, knowing the topic will play...
