A Choice Between Bad and Worse

What Not To Do About Khashoggi, Newsday, October 21, 2018. "The death of Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi Arabia offers a terrible temptation to the United States: We can indulge our outrage at the expense of our interests. We have few good options, but giving in to that temptation would be the worst thing to do."

New Democrats, New Dangers

Obama’s Ugly Legacy in the Mideast, Newsday, March 4, 2018. "The war in Syria was like a stone thrown into a lake. The initial splash has subsided, but the waves are spreading throughout the region. Where the waves meet the shores of the lake, they splash again into new wars. The wars of the Persian Gulf, the Kurds, and Israel are beginning."

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Iran Deal Was Not About Iran, Newsday, October 22, 2017. "President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new strategy for confronting Iran offers a modicum of hope that the United States will stop kicking the can down the road in the Persian Gulf. But to do that, we have to recognize the point of the Iran nuclear deal wasn’t to restrain Iran. It was to restrain the United States."

Grade: Must Improve, But Didn't

Obama Did Not Learn from Foreign Policy Mistakes, Newsday, January 14, 2017. "During their time in office, most presidents learn. And usually their actions reflect what they’ve learned. That’s good: Learning is a vital part of being an effective leader, and it’s essential if you’re president. Regrettably, President Barack Obama doesn’t appear to be a good learner."

A Year Later: Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Has Failed

A Year Later: Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Has Failed, Newsday, July 18, 2016, "This week marks the anniversary of President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. That deal was never about stopping Iran’s nuclear program. It was about resetting the United States’ relations with Iran and the wider Middle East. By that standard, the deal has been a failure."

Riding It All The Way Down

All the Way with LJB and Obama, Newsday, July 25, 2015. "Count on it: When it comes to foreign policy, two-term presidents -- and even most one-term presidents -- will change course along the way. Since 1933, only two have not: Lyndon Johnson, who rode the Vietnam War all the way down, and Barack Obama. That's not a good sign."

Inaction This Day

Should Obama Pester, Nag, and Bite? Yes, Newsday, June 14, 2015. "During a news conference Monday at the G-7 meeting in Germany, President Barack Obama acknowledged that his administration does not have a "complete strategy" to defeat the Islamic State group. That much is obvious. What's as troubling as his strategic failure is the president's explanation of why he has failed."

In Praise of Colin Dueck

, Newsday, May 16, 2015. "On Tuesday, President Barack Obama lost a vote on trade policy in the Senate. The strange thing is why he lost. For years, conservatives have voiced impatience with Obama's foreign policy. But this time, all but one Republican voted for him, and all but one Democrat voted against him."

Leading From Behind

After Syrian Confusion, the Obama Doctrine Lies in Ruins, Heritage Foundation Foundry, September 21, 2013. "The President has never had a coherent approach to foreign policy. Instead, he entered office with a string of liberal platitudes about the world and a deep desire to focus on domestic policy. Today, the Administration’s central goal on Syria is the same as it was two years ago: to get the problem off the front pages."

The Reagan Doctrine and Obama

No, the Obama Doctrine Is Not the Reagan Doctrine, Heritage Foundation Foundry, January 24, 2013. "In the realm of foreign policy, President Obama’s a second Ronald Reagan, or so says James Joyner, the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. This is an example of a curious phenomenon: When a conservative is in office, liberals call him mad, bad, and dangerous. But when he’s safely out of office for twenty years or so, he becomes an example of wise and prudent statesmanship, and a supposed inspiration to the liberal idol of the day. It happened to Eisenhower, to Nixon, to Reagan, and to George H.W. Bush. One day, it will even happen to George W. Bush. The only leaders that liberal foreign policy gurus rarely celebrate are their own: No one wants to wear the mantle of Lyndon Johnson or Jimmy Carter."

Syria Shows Obama Doctrine (In)action

Syria: A Perfect Illustration of the Obama Doctrine’s Failure, Centre for Policy Studies, February 9, 2012. "Obama has little to gain by putting foreign policy on the front pages and, it would appear, little desire to put them front and center either. He needs only to do just enough -- in the form of speeches, symbolic actions, gestures to the left, and not very covert military operations -- to neutralize the charge that he’s not interested in American leadership. Syria testifies to the fact that the dreams of his early administration have comprehensively failed, and that he’s now relying on ad hoc approaches. True, all foreign policy is to an extent improvisation, but great improvisers work off the melody. Right now, the Obama Doctrine is a discordant mess."

Obama's Doctrine

Last In, First Out, Contentions, March 30, 2011. "Commentators here and elsewhere have dissected the belated strengths and considerable weaknesses of the president’s speech on Libya. But no one has noted that the speech is yet another piece of evidence that this administration regards foreign policy as a problem to be overcome as rapidly as possible, not as an enduring challenge with serious consequences. Barack Obama remains eager to get to the serious business of domestic policy."

Skybolt and New START

That Good Old 'Pattern of Cooperation'," Contentions, February 8, 2011. "Over the last few days, the conservative media and blogosphere in the U.S. and Britain have been roiled by WikiLeaks documents suggesting that, in order to secure Russia’s agreement to the New START Treaty, the U.S. agreed to disclose information about the Trident missiles it transfers to Britain. Media Matters predictably claims that there is nothing untoward involved, it’s all an invention of the “right-wing media.” And P.J. Crowley argued that New START simply “carried forward and updated this notification procedure” from the 1991 START Treaty. Yet a careful reading of the 1991 and 2011 treaties reveals significant differences between the U.S.’s obligations vis-à-vis Britain and Russia in these treaties."

Another New START Problem

New START and the Special Relationship: A Case to Answer, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 8, 2011. "Last Friday, British newspapers reported that the U.S. had agreed to supply Russia with sensitive information on Britain’s nuclear deterrent in order to win Russian agreement to the New START Treaty. Over the weekend, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley described this claim as “bunk” and asserted that New START simply “carried forward and updated this notification procedure to the new treaty” from the 1991 START Treaty. The Wikileaks document on which the original story was based, and the treaties of 1991 and 2011, tell a different story."

Action in US-UK Relations Happens Off the Field

Take Your Eye Off the Ball, Foxnews.com, June 12, 2010. "In one respect, the World Cup match between England and the United States is a study in symbolism. For Americans, it symbolizes, first, the fact of our exceptionalism. Unlike the rest of the world, we just don’t care very much about soccer. The fact that the U.S.’s first match is against England has brought out the second bit of symbolism: the U.S. media’s belief that England is the one nation against which American patriotism may legitimately be directed."

Three Problems with the 2010 NSS

RE: The National Security Strategy of 2010. Or 2006. Whatever, Contentions, May 30, 2010. "If Max is with his former boss in being underwhelmed by the 2010 NSS, then I’m with Max. His comparison to Bush’s 2002 NSS is the first one that came to my mind: like it or loathe it, that NSS took the risk of actually saying something clear, bold, and controversial. Of course, Bush paid the price for that, which is why Obama — as every future administration will do — ensured that he fulfilled the legal requirement to produce an NSS in the most boring, committee-driven, toss-a-bone-to-everyone way."