Author: Michael Zigismund

America’s image abroad seems to have revived significantly with the entry of the Biden administration. But the reason may simply be the changing of the guard, since President Joe Biden’s foreign policy scorecard has been mixed at best.

In the Washington Post this month, however, columnist Jennifer Rubin made the case that "Biden is on a roll as commander in chief." Her piece is a master class in reframing weaknesses as strengths. Rubin claimed that Biden’s recent attack on the global leader of the Islamic State and a recent union of western nations proves that critics were wrong to claim that Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan threatened U.S. credibility.

These critics were indeed wrong about the withdrawal’s impact on US credibility, but not for the reasons in Rubin’s column. A sober assessment of Rubin’s errors reveals a far less favorable view of Biden’s foreign policy.

Continue reading “To Defend Biden’s Foreign Policy, Simply Avoid the Facts”

On April 6, 2017, the United States bombed a Syrian airbase. The bombing was in response to a chemical attack immediately thought to be ordered by the behest of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad just two days before.

This bombing was illegal. Even the U.S. government has since repeatedly failed to legally justify it.

With the war in Syria now in a new phase, understanding why is more important than ever. ISIS is all but wiped out. The U.S. mission in Syria has become an open-ended commitment involving, among other things, regime change. The U.S. military is increasingly threatening Syria and targeting its allies. In this new phase, grasping why last year’s bombing was illegal will be useful if President Trump plans a repeat.

Continue reading “One Year Later, America’s Airstrike on Syria Is Still Illegal”