The ATT and the ABA: Part 4

The Arms Trade Treaty and the Second Amendment: Too Risky to Ratify, with John G. Malcolm, Heritage Foundation Foundry, March 18, 2013. "The U.S. is sensitive to allegations that it is failing to fulfill treaty commitments, and it rightly takes its treaty obligations seriously. Because the ATT is a process that is designed to evolve and grow, it is impossible to know where it will lead."

The ATT and the ABA: Part 3

The Arms Trade Treaty and the Second Amendment: The Dangers of Transnationalism, with John G. Malcolm, Heritage Foundation Foundry, March 16, 2013. "The ABA paper neglects another fundamental point. Though the ATT is a treaty, it is fundamentally a process, not an event. It envisages a secretariat (Article 12(1)) charged with assisting “effective implementation” of the treaty and (Article 21) regular conferences of nations party to the treaty that will 'consider and adopt recommendations regarding the implementation and operation of this Treaty.'"

On the Moran-Kelly Resolution

Congress Shows Leadership on U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation Foundry, March 15, 2013. "A powerful group of Senators and Representatives came together on Wednesday to introduce a concurrent resolution expressing concerns with the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). This effort was led by Senator Jerry Moran (R–KS) and Representative Mike Kelly (R–PA), who united 28 colleagues in the Senate and 121 in the House."

The ATT and the ABA: Part 2

The Arms Trade Treaty and the Second Amendment: Encouraging Executive Actions, with John G. Malcolm, Heritage Foundation Foundry, March 14, 2013. "In the first part of the series, we noted our concerns with the implications of the treaty for the import of firearms and as they relate to the federal structure of the U.S. In this second part, we look at how the treaty’s requirements may invite further executive actions by the United States."

Debunking the Debunkers

Debunked: ‘Myths’ of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation Foundry, March 14, 2013. "The office of Representative Raul M. Grijalva (D–AZ) distributed a “Dear Colleagues” letter to House Republicans on March 1 that seeks to debunk what it describes as four “myths” about the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The truth is more complex than the letter allows."

The ATT and the ABA

The Arms Trade Treaty and the Second Amendment: Answering the American Bar Association, with John Malcolm, Heritage Foundation Foundry, March 13, 2013. "On February 26, the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights issued a white paper on the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which concludes that “the proposed ATT is consistent with the Second Amendment.” This conclusion neglects important facts about the treaty and the processes surrounding it, which we will explore in this four-part blog series."

A Review of the ATT Text and Process

The U.S. Cannot Fix the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #2774, March 13, 2013. "The failure of the initial negotiating conference for the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) has been wrongly blamed on the U.S. This false accusation and the conference’s lack of seriousness illustrate the fundamental flaws of any global treaty on the conventional arms trade. While improving the currently unacceptable treaty text may be possible, the treaty would still fail to achieve its purported aim and would pose irremediable risks to U.S. national interests. Yet if the U.S. blocks the adoption of a consensus text at the March conference, a significant number of states will likely negotiate a treaty outside the U.N. system. Participation in this conference is therefore a no-win game that the U.S. should decline to play on the grounds that it already has, and will continue to operate and reform, a world-class export control system that substantially achieves the supposed object and purpose of the proposed treaty."

Puzzling U.S. Policy on The Falkland Islands

US Should Stop Playing Games with the Freedom of the Falkland Islands, Yorkshire Post (UK), March 12, 2013. "It is hard to understand what the US thinks it is achieving by encouraging Britain to negotiate away the rights of the Falkland Islanders. Yet that is exactly what Washington is doing. Starting with the notorious 2010 press conference with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, a string of US officials have urged Britain to negotiate with Argentina."

The ATT Cannot Work

The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty and the ‘Gun Grab’, The Blaze, March 5, 2013. "The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is a bad idea. But it’s not a bad idea because it’s a gun grab. It’s a bad idea because it will restrain the democracies, not the dictatorships. It’s a bad idea because it cannot work."

The Falklands Are British

The United States Should Recognize British Sovereignty Over the Falkland Islands, with Nile Gardiner and Luke Coffey, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #2771, March 4, 2013. "In order to assert their inherent right to choose their own form of government, the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands will hold a referendum on March 10–11, 2013, to decide whether they wish to maintain their allegiance to Great Britain. Britain has administered the Islands peacefully and continuously since 1833, with the exception of the two months in 1982 when the Islands were invaded and illegally occupied by Argentine forces. The Obama Administration has backed Argentina’s calls for a U.N.-brokered settlement for the Islands and so far has refused to recognize the outcome of the referendum. This policy poses serious risks to U.S. interests and is an insult both to Britain—the U.S.’s closest ally—and to the rights of the Islanders."

The Al-Qaeda Threat in the U.S.

British Report Supports Heritage Analysis of Al-Qaeda Threat, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 28, 2013. "On Monday, the Britain-based think tank the Henry Jackson Society—named for Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson of Washington—published a major report by co-authors Robin Simcox and Emily Dyer on Al-Qaeda in the United States: A Complete Analysis of Terrorism Offenses."

Defining Victory Down

Al-Qaeda in the United States, Contentions, February 27, 2013. "It was also 20 years ago that Senator Daniel Moynihan warned of the dangers of “defining deviancy down.” Today, our strategy against Al-Qaeda is to win by defining victory down, and focusing only on the damage we do to its so-called core. That wrongly elevates drone strikes from a tool into a strategy, ignores the recruiting appeal of the Islamist ideology that is at the heart of the danger posed by Al-Qaeda, and neglects the fact that we are not very good at anticipating how al-Qaeda’s franchises and allies will grow, cooperate, and spread. Last year, very few analysts worried about Islamist militants in the Mahgreb; today, they control half a country."

U.S. Should Respect Outcome of Falklands Referendum

Falkland Islands: U.S. Should Support Right to Self-Determination, with Nile Gardiner and Luke Coffey, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3864, February 27, 2013. "On March 10–11, the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, will hold a referendum to decide whether to maintain allegiance to Great Britain. The islands are self-governing but maintain the British monarch as their head of state. The referendum is an answer to Argentina, which, though defeated by Britain in the 1982 Falklands War, is again waging a campaign of threats and intimidation in an effort to gain control of the islands. The U.S. should respect the outcome of the Falkland Islands referendum."

Congressional Leadership on ATT Needed

U.N. Arms Trade Treaty: Congress Should Show Leadership in Advance of the ATT Negotiations, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3863, February 26, 2013. "Next month, the United Nations will hold a second negotiating conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The first conference, held in July 2012, failed to reach consensus agreement on a treaty text. Before that conference, both the Senate and House played a constructive role in the treaty process by making their wide-ranging concerns about the ATT clear to the executive branch. Congress should now show similar leadership before the negotiations resume.

The Latest Islamist Convictions in Britain

Masterminds of British Islamist Terror Plot Convicted, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 22, 2013. "Britain’s success in breaking up this dangerous plot is encouraging. But there is nothing very new about it: The risks of the Pakistan–Britain connection have been well known for years. In a 2009 study, Heritage pointed out that homegrown Islamist terrorism was a major threat, and that “al-Qaeda’s safe haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas enables its leadership more easily to gain access to and to influence individuals with family ties to Pakistan,” including many British citizens."

Priorities in US-European Relations

John Kerry’s Grand Tour: Priorities for Europe, with Nile Gardiner and Luke Coffey, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3858, February 21, 2013. "The Obama Administration has too often taken America’s relations with Europe for granted. Secretary Kerry’s trip to Europe will offer him an opportunity to improve relations with America’s European partners, especially the United Kingdom, while at the same time ending blind U.S. support for deeper European integration."

In Politics, Pragmatism Only Goes So Far

Obama’s Lesson for Cameron on the Pitfalls of Pragmatism, Yorkshire Post (UK), February 15, 2013. "The longer Barack Obama is in the White House, the more closely he comes to resemble Tony Blair. Blair’s greatest strength was his ability to masquerade as a man without ideology, a pragmatist interested simply in doing what works. By defining himself as the rational center, he automatically stigmatized his opponents as irrational extremists."

What To Say Every Day

Valentine’s Day Advice from Ronald Reagan, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 14, 2013. "In 2004, Kiron Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson released Reagan: A Life in Letters, a best-selling selection from the more than 10,000 letters than President Ronald Reagan wrote in his lifetime. Reagan wrote the following letter to his son Michael in 1971, just before his marriage. It is a characteristic expression of Reagan’s sincerity, charm, and humanity."

Instant Response to the 2013 SOTU

Foreign Policy in Retreat, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 12, 2013. "What was striking about Obama’s remarks was how strongly his foreign policy vision contrasted with his domestic policy prescriptions. At home, it seems that very little does not qualify as an “investment”: by his way of thinking, the government exists to start programs, spend money, tax the rich, and do things. But abroad, the government exists mostly to stop doing things."

Oxfam America's All Out ATT Attack

The Truth About the Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 8, 2013. "Supporters of the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) are turning up the heat ahead of another push next month to finalize the treaty. Oxfam America is second to none in its advocacy of this bad treaty, and on Wednesday released a paper accusing opponents of the treaty of mounting a “campaign of lies and deliberate distortions” in order to stop a treaty that stands for “truth and justice” and “will prevent the irresponsible sale, gift, or lease of weapons and ammunition across borders.” The Heritage Foundation was itself singled out, and so we’d like to respond. First, of course, we’d like to thank Oxfam for recognizing the impact our work has had. As the author of the paper cited, I am doubly obliged. But we strongly disagree with Oxfam’s charge and think the organization itself is engaging in serious mischaracterizations of what this proposed treaty would do and not do."

Containment of Iran: Not the Easy Way Out

Iran: Rand Paul’s Containment Strategy, with Jim Phillips, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 7, 2013. "Although few conservatives would disagree with that prescription, he rightly raised concerns about Iran and argued that there might be policy options between trying to talk to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to death and bombing Iran. He suggested the U.S. consider a version of a strategy of containment. Heritage examined this option in previous research. The containment option carries with it serious concerns."

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."

Cut Loose from the EU Carcass

Another View from Washington DC: The State Department and EU Are Natural Allies, Heritage Foundation Foundry, January 17, 2013. "In his energetic response to Philip Gordon’s ill-conceived request that Britain forget about recovering its sovereignty and protecting its democracy, Hannan argues that the State Department wants Britain in the EU because the U.S. is gradually realizing that the EU is, “Frankenstein-like,” defining itself by petulant hostility to the U.S., and it wants Britain inside to moderate that hostility. If only. The State Department doesn’t want Britain inside because it disagrees with the EU. It wants Britain inside because it agrees with the EU. Not with absolutely everything it does, of course ¬– but most of the things that Hannan finds objectionable are things the State Department likes."

The New Nixon

"Nixon and Obama . . . Two Presidents, Two Eras and the American Path They Share," Yorkshire Post (UK), not available online, January 9, 2013. "With the exception of George Washington’s on February 22 – now shamefully amalgamated into Presidents Day – Americans have never paid much attention to presidential birthdays. So Richard Milhous Nixon’s one hundredth anniversary on January 9 will occasion no parades. But Nixon is relevant nonetheless. President Obama’s admirers like to compare him to Franklin Roosevelt, to John F. Kennedy, or – most commonly – to Abraham Lincoln, an allusion that Obama echoed by opening his campaign in 2007 in Springfield, Illinois. The comparison to Kennedy – an iconic figure with an exaggerated reputation – is not bad. It’s certainly better than Newsweek Editor Evan Thomas’s celebrated 2009 declaration that Obama is “sort of God.” But best of all is the comparison to Nixon, America’s disgraced president."

Confirmation Hearings and US Policy Towards Europe

Hagel, Kerry, and Brennan Senate Confirmation Hearings: U.S. Policy on Europe, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3820, with Nile Gardiner and Luke Coffey, January 9, 2013. "The Senate confirmation process allows the American public an opportunity to learn more about these candidates, what they believe, and how they see America’s role in a dangerous world. The American people deserve clear answers from President Obama’s nominees and a clear-cut commitment from them that they will advance U.S. interests on the world stage and defend America’s national security needs."