Walking Away -- The Right Call

Trump’s Successful North Korea Summit, Newsday, March 3, 2019. "The collapse of the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is being treated by many as a failure. In fact, the summit was a failure only if you believe that arriving at a bad agreement is the definition of success."

What We All Got Wrong

So Many U.S. Delusions in Foreign Affairs, Newsday, April 1, 2018. "It’s a common lament that politics don’t stop at the water’s edge. Foreign policy, the argument goes, should be run on the basis of national interest, not party politics. But in reality, U.S. administrations of all colors have a lot of beliefs in common. Unfortunately, all too often, they believe in illusions."

A Few Hard Facts About NoK

Is It Back to Basics with North Korea?, Newsday, August 26, 2017. "A viable U.S. policy toward North Korea starts with recognizing basic facts. North Korea is a nuclear state. It has worked hard for five decades to become a nuclear state. Wooing Pyongyang with sweet words will not lead it to denuclearize."

Locust Years

The Cost of Kicking the Can Down the Road in Russia, Iran and North Korea, Newsday, July 17, 2017. "You know the major foreign threats to the United States — Russia, Iran, North Korea, and terrorism. We’ve been talking about them for years. Today, we’re in a bad place on all of them. It’s an object lesson in the dangers of kicking the can down the road."

Against Giving Up Strategic Advantages for Tactical Responses

On North Korea, a One-Shot’s Not Enough, Newsday, January 9, 2015. "The media is under assault in the United States and abroad. The terrorist attacks in France are more shocking, but the cyberwar on Sony is more dangerous: none of us are isolated from the Internet. The Obama administration's response to the Sony hack pointed in the right direction, but it wasn't enough."

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."

My Take on Wikileaks

Forget About Leaks, The Real Problem is Slipshod Diplomacy, Yorkshire Post, December 8, 2010. "If you work in the government, and you disagree with a policy, you have only two honorable choices: follow the policy and keep your mouth shut, or resign and speak out. Over the past decade, U.S. officials – and in particular the State Department and the intelligence services – have cultivated a third way, an ethic of irresponsible leaking."

The Diplomacy of Solipcism

Time for Action, Not Words, Mr. President, Yorkshire Post, November 4, 2009. "What, in the year since he was elected, has Barack Obama actually done? Making speeches doesn't count. It's certainly part of the President's job to make them, and he's not disappointed. According to CBS News, in mid-July – and less than six months after his inauguration – he gave his 200th speech, and, if anything, the pace has only accelerated since then. But it's a cardinal error to mistake giving speeches for getting things done." This op-ed was written in my personal capacity.

Example #2: Why the U.N.'s Arms Trade Treaty Is A Bad Idea

Iran, North Korea, and the U.N.’s Projected Arms Trade Treaty, Contentions, September 4, 2009. "Last week, a colleague and I published a substantial paper on the faults inherent in the U.N.’s efforts to negotiate an arms trade treaty. These faults are many and serious, but they come down, fundamentally, to the fact that too few states enforce their existing laws, or live up to their existing responsibilities, on the import and export of arms. A treaty will do nothing to remedy this disinterest, incapacity, or – in far too many cases – malfeasance. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal, and other papers, reported a case that illustrates these faults. In August, the UAE seized a shipment of military hardware from North Korea aboard a vessel bound for Iran. This is, needless to say, a violation of the U.N. Security Council ban on military exports from North Korea, but that did nothing to stop Iran from seeking to import them."