Unmoored from Reality

Obama’s Hiroshima Trip Just More of the Same, Newsday, May 22, 2016, "On Friday, President Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima. His spokesmen have promised that he won’t apologize for the U.S. use of atomic bombs to end the Second World War. But Hiroshima’s meaning is more powerful than any words he may utter."

Brexit, Britain, and the US

What is “Brexit” and Why Does it Matter?, Heritage Foundation News Release, May 20, 2016. "On June 23, Great Britain will vote in a nationwide referendum to decide if it wants to remain part of the European Union. If Britain exits – Brexit – it will remain a member of NATO, but it will recover the freedom to make its own trade agreements and write its own laws. President Obama believes that it’s in the interests of the U.S. that Britain stay in the European Union. But many British politicians disagree, including Chris Grayling MP, the Leader of the House of Commons, who will be visiting the U.S. this coming week."

Back to the Future in Europe

America’s Outdated Europe Policy: In 2017, the Next President Must Adapt to New Reality, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4559, May 18, 2016, "Since the end of World War II, U.S. policy toward Europe has drifted, without deliberate thought, far from its initial premises—while Europe itself has changed beyond recognition. It is time that the U.S. recognized this fact. The incoming President should direct the National Security Council (NSC) to oversee a comprehensive study of U.S. policy toward Europe, a study to be based on the enduring American interests in Europe, the lessons of the post-1945 era, and on the new facts of Europe that have emerged since 1989."

On Churchill and Brexit

Would Churchill Have Backed Brexit?, Forbes, May 17, 2016, "London’s now-former mayor, Boris Johnson, a best-selling biographer of Winston Churchill, has claimed the Great Man for the side of Brexit, Britain’s exit from the EU. Writing in the Guardian, journalist Martin Kettle offers the contrary argument that “everything we know” about Churchill suggests that would “be a committed voter to remain” inside the European Union."

The Strengths and Weaknesses of TPP's ISDS

Straight Talk on the ISDS Provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, with James M. Roberts and Riddhi Dasgupta, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4564, May 17, 2016. "The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an investment and trade agreement signed last February between the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim nations, contains enforcement provisions, including an Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism, for resolving potential investment disputes related to the agreement. Today, the ISDS system is used widely around the globe to help protect the investor and to secure for the signatory nation the foreign investment it seeks. But ISDS has become controversial, both as part of the TPP and because it may be included in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) presently being negotiated between the U.S. and the European Union. The ISDS provisions are only one component of the TPP. The agreement must be assessed as a whole. The purpose of this Issue Brief is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the ISDS provisions of the TPP, both as part of the agreement and as part of the broad agenda of American investment and trade diplomacy."

Better Out Than In

Why the U.S. Fails to Grasp British Disquiet Over EU, Yorkshire Post, May 16, 2016, "If it made any difference to the debate, President Obama’s recent press conference with the Prime Minister appears to have boosted the Brexit cause. Obama’s intervention is just the latest incident in the history of American failures to realise why Britain is better off out than in."

Neither Binges Nor Purges

U.S. Does It Again On Military Spending, Newsday, May 8, 2016. "The United States needs to spend more on defense. Not a lot more, but more. And it needs to spend more in a predictable way. Today, as in the past, we’re swinging up and down. That’s wasteful, and it’s dangerous."

By Remembering the Lessons of Adam Smith

How Should Europe Respond to Islamism?, Hoover Institution Caravan, May 4, 2016, "In this era of mass and uncontrolled migrant flows, Adam Smith’s 1776 classic on The Wealth of Nations offers insight into the nature of the challenge posed by Islamism. Far from being a mere manual of economics, Smith’s work reveals how competition promotes progress across society and government, and how it created the modern state and the modern international state system."

Good News from Interpol

An American Businessman Escapes the Clutches of Interpol – and Russia, Forbes, April 30, 2016. "Earlier this month, Ilya Katsnelson, an American businessman living in Denmark, received welcome news from Interpol: it had concluded that Russia’s request for his arrest and extradition was predominantly political, and so Interpol was barred by its own constitution from assisting Putin’s regime in any way. I hope that brings the Katsnelson case to an end. But if you do business internationally, it’s a case you should know about."

I Am Utterly Shocked By These Events

Who Could Possibly Have Expected This Anti-Semitism in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party?, Weekly Standard Online, with Robin Simcox, April 29, 2016. "Utterly, totally unexpected developments are occurring in Britain's Labour Party, which is led by Jeremy Corbyn, a man who once described Osama bin Laden's death as "an assassination attempt, and . . . yet another tragedy, upon a tragedy, upon a tragedy." It turns out—and certainly, no one could possibly have seen this coming—that some of Corbyn's supporters don't like Jews very much."

And There Are A Lot More Than Three

3 Ways Paris Climate Agreement Just Won’t Work, Newsday, April 29, 2016. "The Paris agreement on climate change that Secretary of State John Kerry signed in Paris on Friday may be the worst accord the United States has ever entered into as a nation."

Guess Who This Post Is About?

Our Next President Must Stand Up to Putin, Daily Signal, with Daniel Kochis, April 29, 2016. "Whoever takes over the White House in 2017 will face an aggressive, revanchist Russia that is a threat to the United States and our allies. No amount of wishful thinking can obscure this fact. Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and invasion of the Donbas region of Ukraine is just one example in a long list of recent aggressions and abuses that should dissuade any new administration from viewing Russia through rose colored glasses."

Front of the Line

Britain at the “Back of the Queue?” Why Obama Is Wrong About Trade and Brexit, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4552, "During an April 22 press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, President Barack Obama stated that, were Britain to leave the European Union, Britain would end up at the “back of the queue” for a trade deal with the United States. Observers wrongly understood this to mean that the U.S. would not negotiate with Britain until it had completed negotiations with all other trading partners. In fact, the President meant that negotiations with Britain could not, as a practical matter, be concluded for a number of years. The President is incorrect: Negotiations with Britain could be completed faster than other pending U.S. negotiations, because the kind of trade treaty the U.S. should seek to negotiate with Britain is different from the controversial, all-encompassing, large-bloc agreements the Administration has pursued in the Pacific and the Atlantic."

Finally, My Dissertation Is Relevant

For Earth Day, Barack and David Recycle Some Cliches, Weekly Standard Online, April 25, 2016. "In the quarter-center I’ve spent studying British relations with Europe, I have never seen, or read, a performance that recapitulated as many cliches as President Obama's press conference with Prime Minister Cameron on Friday. I suppose I should be grateful: in future, I won't have to spend months scrounging around British archives for materials to illustrate how poorly American politicians understand the European issue in Britain: Obama's given me all the sources I need."

Who Else Calls The Allies Free-Loaders?

Are America’s Allies A Bunch Of Free-Riders?, Forbes, April 21, 2016. "Is the United States being cheated by its allies around the world? Are the European members of NATO free-riders on the United States? That’s what President Obama says. And he’s been saying it for years. But it’s not true."

It's Called Sovereignty

The Virtues of Brexit, Washington Times, April 14, 2016. "On June 23, the people of Britain will vote in a referendum to decide if they will stay in the European Union or step out on their own in a Brexit. For their sake and ours, I hope they choose to exit."

A Wistful View from the White House

President Obama’s Bad Bromances, Breakups, Newsday, April 10, 2016. "The president gazed out an Oval Office window and sighed. This was a hard job. It was even harder because everyone kept letting him down. He used to have so many buddies. What had happened to them?"

On Running Scared, to a One-Party System

Where’s the Leadership in American Election?, Yorkshire Post, March 28, 2016. "Since the Second World War, power in the US has oscillated regularly between the major parties, with neither able to win an enduring advantage. But that oscillation disguises a pattern that foretells a Democratic edge this fall. If the pattern survives in this uncertain world, that is."

Recommendations on ATT and Land Mines for FY 2017 NDAA

The 2017 NDAA Should Begin Rebuilding America’s Military, with lead co-author Justin Johnson and others, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #3105, March 28, 2016. "It is the responsibility of Congress to ensure that the armed forces have the capacity and capability to protect the nation’s vital interests. Congress should specifically preserve military capacity and maintain options so that the next President can grow the military and improve American security. The fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) should focus on building a stronger military that can better protect America while bolstering partnerships with friends and allies around the world."

Following in Tonga's Noble Lead . . .

Freedom Is In Retreat Under Obama Presidency, Newsday, March 27, 2016. "President Barack Obama’s speech in Cuba last week is one of the best he’s made in his seven years in office. Unfortunately, he’s got a terrible record of following through on his words."

The Battles Inside Brexit

The Calm Before the Brexit Storm, Weekly Standard Online, March 23, 2016. "In just under 100 days, on June 23, Britain will decide whether it will leave the European Union. A British exit – Brexit – will restore the sovereignty of the House of Commons, encourage other EU member nations to look for the door, and shake the leadership of the governing Conservative party. But while the starting gun in the race has been fired, one of the runners has not yet officially stepped on to the track."

The Next Steps in Syria

War in Syria Is Lost . . . Now Let’s Look to Future, Yorkshire Post, March 14, 2016. "I am all in favour of valiant resistance. And if your national survival is at stake, you don’t quit. But most wars aren’t like that. When you’re beaten, you need to recognise it, and start thinking about how to redeem your loss. We’ve lost the war in Syria. The question now is what we do next."

Brexit Now, Brexit Forever

Obama’s Campaign Against EU Independence Unlikely to Sway Brits, Daily Signal, March 14, 2016. "The cause of the year—in fact, the cause of this generation—is the upcoming referendum on Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU). Brexit, as it’s known, is the fondest hope of every activist in Bournemouth, for the simple but obvious reason that as long as the EU is in charge, Britain doesn’t govern itself. Leaving the EU would also allow Britain to negotiate its own trade treaties and preserve NATO as the security link with the U.S., but it’s the cause of self-government that warms the heart of the Freedom Association’s friends."

No, It Certainly Isn't

Britain’s Move to Perhaps Leave the EU is Not Radical, Newsday, March 13, 2016. "How would you like it if the United States got together with Canada, Mexico, and every other nation in the New World and set up a new government, headquartered in Guatemala?"

Let Us Now Praise Useless Icons

Symbols Without Substance, CapX, March 3, 2016. "A few weeks ago, I met a group of Europeans who were touring the US on the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. When the conversation turned to the proposed US-EU trade deal, most of the European delegation seemed to agree (sensibly) that its economic impact would be minor. But they supported it none the less, on the argument that it would be a valuable symbol. That meeting came back to me when I read Rob Halfon MP’s explanation of why he will be voting for Britain to remain in the EU. As he put it, repeatedly, “I am frightened”. For Halfon, the value of the EU is symbolic: it’s supposedly an “alliance of democracies.” The EU’s not doing anything to improve the West’s position. It’s not the kind of alliance that actually fights. It’s just a symbol."