Israel's Foolish Signature of the ATT

Israel Signs the Arms Trade Treaty: Unhelpful Appeasement for Implacable Enemies, National Review Online, December 29, 2014, "Last Thursday, Israel signed the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a treaty that supposedly prevents nations from arming terrorists and mass murderers. But in reality, the treaty’s advocates spend most of their time vehemently criticizing Israel, and, of course, the United States."

The Best Strategy Is Always To Be Very Strong

Three Questions Worth Asking For 2015, Newsday, December 24, 2014, "Coping with the unpredictable future isn't easy. Consequences seem obvious -- once they've happened. But Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian master famous for saying that war is the continuation of politics by other means, has good advice for dealing with unpredictability: "The best strategy is always to be very strong." If you can't predict, you can at least be prepared. And right now, I doubt that Havana, or anyone else, is worried about U.S. strength."

The ATT: A Lump of Christmas Coal

This Terrible Anti-Gun Treaty Goes Into Effect Christmas Eve, Daily Signal, December 24, 2014. "Today, on Christmas Eve, the UN’s Arms Trade Treaty takes effect, giving Americans a lump of coal in their stockings this holiday season. The ATT is a bad idea that keeps getting worse. In theory, it’s about stopping the sale of guns to terrorists and mass murderers. But in practice, it’s about preventing Israel from defending itself, allowing left-wing activists to dictate U.S. foreign policy and giving anti-gun advocates a leg up."

What the U.S. Should Do on the UN ATT in 2015

Top 11 Areas for Congressional Action on the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty in 2015, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4323, December 19, 2014. "The coming year will be a crucial one for the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and for the defense of U.S. sovereignty against those who seek to use the ATT to constrain it. The ATT will enter into force on December 24, 2014. In late August, the first Conference of States Party (CSP) to the treaty will be held in Mexico City to establish the rules of procedure for future CSPs, the treaty Secretariat, and the financing of treaty activities. While continuing to oppose ratification of the ATT, Congress should ensure that the U.S. resists the creation of precedents and procedures that would restrict its sovereignty. The Administration should recognize that its approach to the ATT has failed and join Congress in these actions."

ATT's Entry Into Force Has No Implications for U.S.

Congress Should Continue to Oppose Arms Trade Treaty As It Enters Into Force, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4322, December 18, 2014. "On December 24, 2014, the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) will enter into force. Treaty supporters claim that the ATT, which the U.S. has signed but not ratified, will then become international law, implying that it will apply to the U.S. In fact, the treaty will be binding only on those nations that have ratified it. Congress should therefore continue to oppose ratification of the ATT and ensure that it is not implemented before it passes through the entire U.S. treaty process."

Obama's Four Fatal Flaws

Reality Has Shown Up Obama’s Failings, Yorkshire Post, December 15, 2014, "The conservative triumphs in 2010 and 2014 have not irrevocably set America’s destiny: there are no permanent victories in politics. But there was a fundamental contradiction between the apolitical fantasy that Obama embodied, and the real-world desire of the American people to support liberal policies, especially when incompetently administered."

What Crazy Talk Means

Crazy Talk Isn’t Just Crazy, Newsday, December 12, 2014, "We shouldn't ignore this nonsense. We certainly shouldn't write it off because it's said in public: It matters precisely because it is said in public. Our politicians say lots of silly things, but in democracies, respectable people don't do crazy talk. So when you hear a foreign leader talking crazy, laugh -- but remember: You're listening to a dictator."

On Land Mines, 538 Gets the Data Wrong

FiveThirtyEight Gets Land Mine Data Wrong and Makes It Look Like a Bad Treaty Is Working, National Review Online, December 11, 2014, "The defining aspect of the 2000s isn’t declining land-mine casualties, and the Obama administration’s push to comply with the APL convention is as irrelevant to humanitarian aims as it is dangerous militarily. But the real irony is that while the ICBL pats itself on the back for its progress in defeating the land-mine scourge, and the Obama administration applauds in the background, the most significant new weapon of war in the past decade is the insurgent’s IED. In other words, Lyte’s wrong: The land mine, so far as international law sees it, is not going away"

From Academia to a Think Tank: Reflections on How to Be Lucky

From Academia to a Think Tank: Reflections on How to Be Lucky, American Historical Association's Perspectives, December 2014, "So the American academy is reaping what it has sowed. All it has to do to drive more of its graduates away is to keep on doing what it’s done for the past 40 years. The alternative to the status quo, therefore, isn’t nonacademic jobs. That’s today’s reality. The alternative is for the academy to stop relying on luck and instead make an effort to do preparation for nonacademic jobs right."

We Know What Nonproliferation Looks Like . . .

On Iran, No Deal is a Good Deal, Newsday, November 27, 2014, "It's no secret that the Obama administration badly wants a nuclear deal with Iran. And it's no secret that the Iranians are playing hard to get. The talks, which were supposed to yield a final agreement this week, have been extended to July. That's a relief, because right now, the best deal is no deal."

The Reckless Kingmaker

In Britain, Conservatives Face Defeat in ‘Crisis’ By-Election, Weekly Standard Blog, November 19, 2014. "On Thursday, English voters in the constituency of Rochester and Strood, in the country of Kent south-east of London, are likely to return Mark Reckless to Parliament as the UK Independence Party’s (UKIP) second MP. When Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron promised a month ago to throw “everything we can” at the campaign, this wasn’t the result he anticipated."

Russia's Troubled Periphery Troubled by Russia

Russia’s Aggression Isn’t Stopping in Ukraine, Newsday, November 16, 2014. "NATO confirmed on Wednesday that Russian tanks were moving into rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine. But Russia's aggression under Vladimir Putin didn't begin in Ukraine and, unless the West stops vacillating, it won't end there, either."

Willow Run Hums Again

Up From the Ashes, Weekly Standard, November 24, 2014. "There aren’t a lot of four-lane highways in rural Michigan. But the vast field a few miles east of Ypsilanti once needed a wide road. It was the site of Ford’s Willow Run plant, the heart of the Arsenal of Democracy. And now it’s becoming America’s first museum dedicated to the World War II production miracle that armed and saved the free world."

His Challenges, Unfortunately, Are Ours Too

Foreign Crises Weaken Obama at Home, Yorkshire Post, November 3, 2014. "The conventional wisdom is that US voters don’t care about foreign policy. Even on its face, this is silly: Korea, Vietnam, 9/11, and Iraq mattered in the ensuing elections. But voters don’t just care about wars. They care about perceptions of strength. And since 2013, President Barack Obama has looked weak."

Of Ghosts, Ghasts, and Liberals

Haunting Liberal Superstitions, Newsday, October 31, 2014. "On Halloween weekend, everyone pretends to believe in ghosts. But a recent Chapman University study found that liberals are more likely to really be quaking in their boots. The supernatural doesn't scare me. But I am afraid of liberal faith in policies that make as much sense as astrology."

Your Talk Is Big, Sir, But Your Act Is Small

From Libya to Ebola, Obama Administration Talks Big But Acts Small, Newsday, October 19, 2014. "The Obama administration has responded to the Ebola epidemic by talking big. It does that well. From the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti to Syria's use of chemical weapons in 2013, the administration has made a lot of splashy responses. But making a splash isn't the same as being serious."

A Tale of Two Strategies

What’s At Stake in U.S. Strategy in Syria, Newsday, October 4, 2014. "The Obama administration's strategy for Syria relies on using U.S. air power to support local forces. If this approach fails, as it has failed in the past, the United States will find itself still lacking an effective, politically viable strategy for fighting Islamist terror more than a decade after 9/11 attacks."

American Politics in the United Kingdom

Politics of Floating Voters Dominate the Conferences, Yorkshire Post, October 3, 2014. "This year, I attended the Conservative Party Conference, which has just concluded in Birmingham. As a historian of British politics, and as an American conservative who believes that the American and British systems are each excellent in their own way, it was not what I expected."

At the Conservative Party Conference, Cheers All the Way

In Birmingham, Shut Up and Cheer, National Review Online, October 1, 2014. "A regular complaint of British Conservatives is that the party conference is no longer what it once was. It’s not simply small to American eyes; it’s sadly diminished in British ones. There are now no motions from the floor, no debate, and little sense that the party has much interest in reflecting the views of its most active members. As one MP put it to me, the conference is now for lobbyists, corporate donors, and television. Like American political conventions, it exists to affirm the leadership, not to challenge it. Above all, it must be a success."

Norms v. National Security

Obama Says No to Landmines, with Steve Groves, National Review Online, September 29, 2014. "On March 6, 2014, America’s highest-ranking military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, called anti-personnel landmines (APLs) “an important tool in the arsenal of the armed forces of the United States.” Yesterday, President Obama banned the armed forces from using them. Why? To comply with a treaty — the Ottawa Convention — that the United States hasn’t even ratified. The U.S. Senate has not given its advice and consent to the treaty, but the Obama administration still feels compelled, in the words of a State Department spokesman, to “underscore its commitment to the spirit and humanitarian aims of the Ottawa Convention.”

More Norm Talk at the UN

Obama’s UN Speech Reveals why Arms Trade Treaty is So Dangerous, Fox News, September 26, 2014. "Addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, President Obama said that all nations “must meet our responsibility to observe and enforce international norms.” What he meant by that wasn’t exactly clear, starting with what those norms are, and who gets to define them. But that kind of thinking on the president’s part is precisely why the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is so bad for the United States."

Promoting the Obvious: Free Trade Between the US and the UK

Freedom from the EU: Why Britain and the U.S. Should Pursue a U.S.-U.K. Free Trade Area, with Nile Gardiner, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief, September 26, 2014. "A referendum on British membership in the European Union is scheduled for 2017. EU supporters argue that exit from the EU would hurt Britain’s economy and, in particular, its ability to negotiate trading arrangements with the rest of the world—a responsibility currently exercised by the EU on behalf of all of its member states. But there is every reason to believe that Britain, the world’s sixth-largest economy, would be able to negotiate trade agreements independently. If Britain does decide to leave the EU, one of its central priorities should be to negotiate a modern free trade area (FTA), based on sovereignty and freedom, with the United States. This is a goal that the U.S., which should abandon its policy of supporting the EU at the expense of the sovereignty of its member nations, should also champion."

The ATT Goes from Bad to Worse

Congress Should Stop Implementation of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4278, September 25, 2014. "On September 25, 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry signed the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). In the past year, the ATT has gone from bad to worse as the aims of its supporters and its failure in practice have become obvious. Yet the Obama Administration, without even transmitting the treaty to the Senate, has sought to implement it. Congress should hold hearings to reveal the extent to which U.S. policies have been shaped by the ATT and to ensure it is not implemented before it passes through the entire U.S. treaty process."

Winners and Losers in Scotland

The Scottish Referendum: Who Won, Who Lost, National Interest, September 24, 2014. "It seems churlish to speak of winners and losers today, but, after all, the point of voting is to pick winners. The most important winner, of course, is the Union itself. Scotland, too, is a winner. Apart from the fact that it would have been worse off outside the Union, it has demonstrated that it’s possible—as it has been for centuries—to be both Scottish and British."

In Syria, If It's Worth Doing, It's Worth Doing Poorly

In Syria, Obama Calls on the J.V. Team, Newsday, September 20, 2014. "While the president called the Islamists the junior varsity team in January, it's obvious that they are professionals at murder. I hate to be rude about the Syrian rebels, who are risking their lives. But it's not the Islamists who are the JV squad: it's our guys. That's why they need training. So the new plan is much the same as the old plan. It relies on others to do the dirty work and promises more than it can deliver. Unfortunately, the motto of the administration's approach to Syria has not changed: If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly."

The Faulty Geopolitical Case Behind TTIP

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): The Geopolitical Reality, with Nile Gardiner and Luke Coffey, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #2953, September 17, 2014. "The United States and the European Union are negotiating a trade agreement—the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)—that is being hailed as the answer to the woes of the transatlantic relationship, as a solution to the EU’s economic difficulties, and as heralding the creation of a new institution that will reinvigorate the Western alliance. It is essential that both the geopolitical concerns that motivate support for a TTIP and the limits of a TTIP’s ability to improve U.S.–EU relations and address the rise of China be properly understood."

The Economic Case for and Against TTIP

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): Economic Benefits and Potential Risks, with Luke Coffey and Bryan Riley, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #2952, September 17, 2014. "The United States and the European Union are negotiating a trade agreement—the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)—that politicians and commentators on both sides of the Atlantic hail as the answer to the woes of the transatlantic relationship, as a solution to the EU’s economic difficulties, and as heralding the creation of a new institution that will reinvigorate the Western alliance. But no U.S.–EU agreement can do all that has been claimed of the TTIP, and there are reasons to believe that its benefits have been oversold. The U.S. should support all measures that would promote growth and employment by increasing economic freedom, but it should not accept any agreement that could increase government regulation in the name of promoting free trade and create a transnational regulatory body that could infringe on U.S. sovereignty."

For Scotland, the Question of Prudence

Scotland’s Independence Vote: What thee United States Has at Stake, Big Peace, September 17, 2014. "No call for democratic self-government can leave Americans unmoved. But Americans also know that the Declaration of Independence cautions that “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.” The Anglo-Scottish Union is over 300 years old. The question of prudence is a serious one."

At the UN, No Room for Skeptics

Want to Know What U.N. Thinks of ‘Democracy’? Just Look at its Arms Trade Treaty, Foxnews.com, September 10, 2014. "While the ATT was negotiated at the U.N., it was pushed along by anti-gun groups. But the negotiations were also watched by U.S. and international organizations that were critical of the treaty, including the World Forum on Shooting Activities (WFSA) and my own employer, The Heritage Foundation. The U.N. generically calls these and other groups, regardless of their views on the treaty, “civil society.” But that is not how the U.N. wants to work. It pretends to support open and transparent processes, and to value input from everyone. But what it really wants is to pick groups who agree with it and define them alone as“civil society.”

A Rectification of Names

Call the Islamic State Murderers Instead, Newsday, September 8, 2014. "The murderers of journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley call themselves the Islamic State. And commentators reliably repeat that name. That's wrong -- and dangerous."

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other: UKIP and the Tea Party

An American’s Perspective on the Rise of UKIP, Yorkshire Post, August 29, 2014. "Though they’re compared relentlessly, Ukip and the Tea Party are actually very different animals. Ukip’s backers are more likely than the average voter to be older, male, and lower middle class former Tories."

Summer Reading on World War I

How Does Freedom Work? Read These, Newsday, August 21, 2014. "This summer marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. The historical literature on the war is vast, rivaled only by the U.S. Civil War and the Second World War. The Great War's lessons, in the end, are what you make of them. But if you want to know more about the war, here are a few of my personal favorites."

The Lost Chance to Avoid War

Fight Hard to Deter, or Prepare for a Fight, Newsday, August 8, 2014. "In his history of the Great War, Winston Churchill was asked whether Britain could, by a dedicated act of friendship, have reconciled France and Germany and averted the war. He replied that he could not tell. All he knew was that he had done his best, and that his nation had survived. That is the wisdom of Olympus."

The Traditional Requirements of Sovereignty

An Assault on Sovereignty in Israel, Ukraine, Newsday, July 25, 2014. "At a conference in Israel earlier this month, the White House's Middle East coordinator, Philip Gordon, spoke the magic word: sovereignty. Unfortunately, for the White House, it's just a word. From Israel to Ukraine, today's crises show what happens when the world forgets what sovereignty requires."

Not Change, But Who's In Charge

Liberals Speak, A Conservative Responds, Newsday, July 11, 2014. "Just before the 4th of July, the Pew Research Center released a fascinating study of Americans' political beliefs, dividing them into seven categories from "steadfast conservatives" to "solid liberals." But what separates liberals and conservatives isn't always what they believe. It's why they believe."

The Enemy of Our Enemy . . . Is Our Enemy

In the Middle East, An Avalanche of Disasters, Newsday, June 27, 2014. "The past weeks have brought an avalanche of disasters for the United States in the wider Middle East. Unless the Obama administration changes course, the coming months will bring worse."

Concluding Reflections on the U.N. PoA

Concluding Reflections on a Pointless U.N. Gathering on Guns, National Review Online, June 25, 2014. "As I noted Monday on the Corner, the biennial meeting of the U.N.’s Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA) that concluded on Friday went about as well from the U.S. perspective as it could have done. But that doesn’t mean it’s harmless: The broader context of the PoA is completely wedded to the promotion of gun control, and to the promotion in the U.S. of supposedly binding transnational norms that would reinterpret and hence change the Constitution."

Summing Up the U.N. PoA

At the Close of the U.N.’s Programme of Action, Wins – and A Few Losses – for the U.S., National Review Online, June 23, 2014. "The U.N. Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA), which I’ve been covered for the Corner over the past week, wrapped up on Friday afternoon with a consensus outcome — i.e., one that’s unanimously tolerated, if not unanimously liked. In the field of firearms, nothing that the U.N. does can be genuinely good for the U.S., but as these things go, the PoA wasn’t too bad."

NGO Statements from Myself and Canadian NFA to the U.N. PoA

At NGO Day at the U.N. Programme of Action, Forthright Talk from Canada, National Review Online, June 19, 2014. "Today’s meeting of the U.N.’s Programme of Action on Small Arms (PoA) focused on statements by non-governmental organizations. As far as the conservative organizations go, the direct impact of these is minimal: most everyone else in the room is on the other team."

U.S. Allies at the U.N. PoA: More Needed

On Firearms, the U.S. Needs Allies at the U.N., National Review Online, June 19, 2014. "The topic has shifted at this week’s meeting of the U.N.’s Programme of Action on Small Arms (PoA). The focus on Wednesday was on the provision of foreign aid — undoubtedly a major reason why many nations are in the room. As the discussion unfolds, it’s hard to ignore just how isolated the U.S. is at the U.N. on firearms issues, and, on a related issue, just how little most of the other national delegations know about the subject."

Wait, Hypocrisy at the U.N.? I Never!

The U.N.’s Unique Species of Hypocrisy, Arms-Trafficking Edition, National Review Online, June 18, 2014. "It would be a wearying task to catalog every kind of hypocrisy on display at this week’s meeting of the U.N.’s Programme of Action on Small Arms — the PoA, where the main issues I set out for the Corner yesterday continue to be a focus of discussion. But the main principal species of lies, evasions, and question-begging at Turtle Bay are worth recording, precisely because they are so dominant."

A Small U.N. Win for the U.S.

At the U.N., An Ever So Small Win Against Gun Control, National Review Online, June 17, 2014. "If you’ve never attended what’s commonly described as a debate at the United Nations, you might believe that the U.N. actually proceeds by debate. You would be wrong."

Scene Setter for the Start of the U.N. PoA

The U.N.’s Biennial Surreptitious Gun Control Conference Begins, National Review Online, June 16, 2014. "The “Programme of Action” — which starts its fifth biennial meeting in New York today — is a classic U.N. institution, in that it manages to combine a complete lack of substantive accomplishments with sinister intentions."

Cronyism on the Pitch

The World Cup/Olympics Traveling Circus, Newsday, June 13, 2014. "Jurgen Klinsmann, the coach of the U.S. soccer team, caught flak this past week for saying that it's "not realistic" to believe that his men can win the World Cup. While a U.S. victory would indeed be a shock, the most unrealistic thing about the World Cup is the wider hopes that are pinned on it."

Time To Leave the U.N. Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons

U.S. Participation in the U.N.’s ‘Programme of Action’ on Small Arms and Light Weapons Is Not in the National Interest, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4238, June 13, 2014. "The fifth biennial meeting of the U.N. “Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects” (PoA) will be held on June 16–20, 2014. The PoA includes a range of commitments on which participating nations have agreed to report. It is not a treaty but, in theory, a mechanism for encouraging voluntary cooperation."

Recommendations on U.S. Policy Towards Europe

President Obama Goes to Europe: Top Five Policy Recommendations, with Nile Gardiner and Luke Coffey, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4234, June 4, 2014. "President Obama’s visit to Europe this week will be an important opportunity for the U.S. President to restate America’s commitment to the transatlantic partnership, strengthen the NATO alliance, and shore up European opposition to Russian aggression against Ukraine."

Check Your Privilege!

Liberals Have Plenty of Privilege to Check, Too, Newsday, May 30, 2014. "Universities are hothouses for ideas, a lot of them bad. Fortunately, most die a rapid death from mockery. But the trending campus admonishment to "check your privilege" is actually a good one."

UKIP, the European Elections, and the Opportunity Beyond

Growing Pains, Weekly Standard, May 26, 2014. "There is much to applaud in UKIP’s desire to free the Parliament of Westminster from the toils of Brussels. But there is nothing about this mission that is going to be easy. Whether it wins or not on May 22, UKIP has a narrow and testing window of opportunity before the next general election. If UKIP is going to do the job, this needs to be the year it grows up."

Call It What It Is: A War

Hashtags No Substitute for Strategy, Newsday, May 18, 2014. "We are being led to believe that helping Nigeria is a mission of mercy. But we are actually taking sides in a religious war. And while we are right to side against Islamist terror, we are publicly entering this war, which the administration is not eager to explain, simply because taking visible action can be sold as easy, popular and humane. The problems of Nigeria and its neighbors are too serious to be treated so casually."

Neither Submission Nor War

Obama’s Furious Battle Against Straw Men, Newsday, May 2, 2014. "We can go well beyond his toothless sanctions on Russia without going to war. And far from loving war, Obama’s critics want to prevent it by making it clear to regimes like Russia and Iran that we will – calmly and resolutely – defend our allies and interests. By encouraging autocratic regimes to take chances, Mr. Obama actually risks encouraging wars.

Irrelevancy Commands No Respect

Obama Is Irrelevant Abroad and Now Disliked at Home, Yorkshire Post, April 29, 2014. "A year ago, Obama’s highest Gallup rankings were on foreign affairs. But by February, a majority of Americans believed the world’s leaders had little respect for the U.S. president. In late March, CBS found that only 36 percent of Americans approved of his foreign policy. Even Obamacare is more popular."

Grand Strategy, Political Economy, and Free Trade

The Limits of Free Trade, Newsday, April 18, 2014. "Since the Second World War, the United States has carried the banner of free trade. It’s not just a slogan: advancing economic freedom has been a central pillar of American grand strategy. But recently, the limits of that strategy have become clear."

The Brexit Prize and the IEA

And the Prize for Britain’s Exit to the EU Goes To . . ., Heritage Foundation Foundry, April 11, 2014. "The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in London awarded its prestigious “Brexit Prize,” a 100,000 euro award for the best plan for a British exit from the European Union (EU), earlier this week. The winner, Iain Mansfield, is the director of trade and investment at the British embassy in the Philippines. Thankfully, there are evidently still a few civil servants who have not succumbed to the British establishment’s decades-long bias in favor of the EU."

Favors Don't Work in International Affairs

The Genesis of Really Bad Ideas, Newsday, April 4, 2014. "Most bad ideas in the world grow from a few seeds. And there is no seed more dangerous than the belief that we can make other places see things our way by tossing out favors like candy at Halloween."

Against the ATT, Again

Arms Trade Treaty: Congress Warns White House on Backdoor Implementation, Heritage Foundation Foundry, April 3, 3014. "On the first anniversary of the United Nations’ adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), Senator Jerry Moran (R–KS) and Representative Mike Kelly (R–PA) sent powerful messages rejecting the White House’s efforts to implement the treaty outside the ratification process."

Develop First, Cancel Second

Tomahawk Cancellation an Error of Defense Strategy and Alliance Policy, with Steve Bucci, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4190, April 2, 2014. "Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy announced that it will stop buying Tomahawk cruise missiles in fiscal year (FY) 2016 and will seek to field a replacement within a decade. This decision is an error of both defense strategy and alliance policy. Congress should reject the Navy’s plans and require it to continue buying a sufficient number of Tomahawks annually to keep production lines open and unit costs affordable until a replacement can be effectively deployed into service, and until Britain and Australia (which use or plan to use the Tomahawk), after close consultation with the U.S., are satisfied that this replacement will affordably offer them equivalent or superior capabilities to the Tomahawk."

On Brexit As Means, Not End

Can Britain Learn to Stand Up for Itself?, Yorkshire Post, March 22, 2014. "There is a sense in which complaining about the EU risks being an end in itself. It satisfies a deeply-held need in modern society: to have something to gripe about. And that actually suits the EU chorus just fine, because one reason politicians of all stripes love the EU is that it gives 
them an excuse for anything that goes wrong. Leaving the EU implies that Britain is going to commit itself to everything the EU dislikes: freedom, and preferring deeds to words. That approach will make Britain’s moribund foreign policy relevant again. But it is an approach that will take leadership and commitment, and planning that needs to start now."

What We Can Do Now About Ukraine

Ten Ways the West Can Help Ukraine, Newsday, March 21, 1014. "It's not good enough to say the United States can do nothing to help Ukraine and deter Russia from future bullying and aggression. While we cannot overcome six years of errors in a day, we are only as powerless as we want to be. Here are 10 ways we can start to do better."

Freedom in Bournemouth

At Britain’s CPAC, Heritage Joins Conservative Allies, Heritage Foundation Foundry, March 19, 2014. "The Heritage Foundation was proud to be the only American think tank invited to participate in the inaugural Freedom Festival, Britain’s equivalent of the Conservative Political Action Conference in the U.S. Organized by the leading center-right think tanks and activist organizations in Britain, including such stalwarts for freedom as the Freedom Association, the TaxPayers’ Alliance, and Margaret Thatcher’s own Centre for Policy Studies, the Freedom Festival was a three-day long event held on the sunny south coast of Britain in Bournemouth. If there was one opinion that united the conference, it was dislike of Britain’s membership in the European Union."

The Troubled European Periphery

Europe Must Wake Up to New Danger, Newsday, March 7, 2014. "If you looked out from Europe in the 1990s, you could see sunshine on the horizon. With the end of the Cold War, NATO appeared to be on the road to irrelevancy. But the sunshine has faded. Russia's dismemberment of Ukraine should remind Americans and Europeans that European security, for which all of us paid a high price over the past hundred years, is not assured."

Iran Sues Europe, and Wins

Of Mullahs and Lawyers, with Andrew Southam, Weekly Standard, February 24, 2014. "For the past year, British and European Union sanctions against Iran have faced a string of legal challenges and lost nearly every round. The sanctions relief offered by the so-called interim nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran conceals the broader problem that the European legal basis for sanctions is eroding. Iran is expert in the waging of terror wars. It’s also, it turns out, good at lawfare."

Here's a New Idea: Blame the U.S.!

Hypocritical NGOs Like to Blame US While Turning Blind Eye to Terror, Fox News, February 19, 2014. "Supposedly, the treaty is about cutting off the supply of arms to terrorists and dictators. But the evidence shows that the NGOs are, in practice, more interested in the supposed misdeeds of the United States and other democracies than they are in stopping terror and dictators."

Non-Profts Aren't A Sector, They're Life

Nonprofit Model Entirely Misleading, Newsday, February 16, 2014. "One of the many virtues of the United States is it has an exceptionally lively nonprofit sector. There is an organization for everyone, and every organization speaks for itself. Europe is less fortunate: there, government funding of nonprofits is the norm. But at least Europe is waking up to the dangers of subsidies. We seem to be going to sleep."

International Sports, National Dictators

Olympics’ Edifice Complex Is Ultimately a Loser, Newsday, February 3, 2014. "The Olympic Winter Games start Friday in Sochi, Russia. They were supposed to cost $12 billion, but the latest estimate is higher: more than $50 billion. Small wonder that, increasingly, the nations that want to host international sporting events are corrupt, publicity-seeking dictatorships or deluded Keynesians."

Obama's Three Failed Middle East Aims

Barack Obama’s Mideast Strategy Has Failed, Newsday, January 17, 2014. "The damning report of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Benghazi confirms that the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. compound was planned and carried out by al-Qaida."

Top Five for 2014

Top Five Foreign Policy Priorities for 2014, with Nile Gardiner and James Phillips, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4123, January 14, 2014. "In 2014, the U.S. should be willing to stand up to those who threaten its interests while it stands with those who share its values and goals. Foremost among those values are the principles of sovereignty and self-determination, which must be as central to U.S. foreign policy as they are sacred to its system of government. Here are the top five foreign policy priorities for the Administration and Congress in 2014."

An Update on Looming ATT Dangers

After U.S. Signature, Dangers of U.N. Arms Trade Treaty Begin to Surface, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4216, January 14, 2014. "After U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry signed the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in September, a bipartisan majority of the Senate stated its opposition to ratifying the treaty. Over the past months, the dangers of the ATT have become increasingly obvious, and supporters of the treaty have been increasingly assertive in their claims and their criticism of the United States. The wisdom of the Senate’s opposition to the treaty having already been amply demonstrated, it is time for both the Senate and the House to hold hearings on the ATT."

A Narrative and Analysis of the Arms Trade Treaty Process

The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty: A Process, Not An Event, Journal on Firearms and Public Policy, vol. 25 (Fall 2013), available in PDF only. "The ATT is ambiguous for a reason. There was no chance that all the world’s nations would ever have been able to negotiate a clear treaty, with careful definitions, regulating the entire world’s trade in conventional arms. Moreover, if they had been able to do so, it is very unlikely that such a treaty would have been acceptable to the United States, because it would almost certainly have sought to place unacceptable limits on civilian ownership."

Go Where The Going (Might Be) Easier

A Ground Game That Could Favor the U.S., Newsday, January 3, 2014. "As in the previous decade, freedom made little headway in 2013. Throughout that period, the United States has labored unsuccessfully to build free governments in the Middle East and Africa. In 2014, we should seek to promote freedom where the going may be easier."

A New Year's Interpol Wish List for Jeh Johnson at DHS

New Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson Must Fight Interpol Abuse, Washington Times, January 2, 2014. "In his confirmation hearing to be secretary of the perennially troubled Department of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson emphasized that his priorities would be to fill senior DHS vacancies, improve its management and raise its morale. But now that he's on the job, Mr. Johnson is responsible for more than just the DHS. He also helps lead the National Central Bureau, through which the U.S. works with Interpol. The bureau's budget is only about $30 million, but that is no measure of the troubles it can cause."