I Told You So

Reflections on President Trump’s Unsigning of the Arms Trade Treaty, Forbes, April 30, 2019. "On Friday, President Trump announced that he will unsign the Arms Trade Treaty . The reactions tell you all you need to know about the treaty and its supporters. But to me, the biggest surprise — though it shouldn’t have been a surprise— was the way that the Treaty was assumed to be beyond criticism, and obviously a good thing, merely because it’s an example of multilateral diplomacy."

Well, I Like A US-UK FTA

Donald Trump Can Deliver Britain A Post-Brexit Trade Boost, with Michael Auslin, Financial Times, April 29, 2019. "While the world waits to see if the US and China can call a truce in their tariff war, President Donald Trump is quietly making potentially major trade moves with the UK and Japan. Halfway through his term, Mr Trump may finally begin to make good on his oft-repeated goal of concluding bilateral fair trade pacts."

The Big and Bad Ones

Bad Ideas Led to Libya Civil War, Newsday, April 28, 2019. "In 2011, the United States led an intervention that deposed Libyan dictator, terrorist, and crackpot Muammar Gaddafi. Since then, U.S. and Western policy toward Libya has embodied every big, bad idea in our arsenal."

Time for a Victory Lap

Trump Just Ditched A UN Arms Treaty, and He Was Right to Do It, Heritage Daily Signal, April 26, 2019. "On Friday, at the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association, President Donald Trump announced that he was un-signing the Arms Trade Treaty. As he put it, “The United Nations will soon receive a formal notice that America is rejecting this treaty.” He then pulled out a pen and, in front of the entire audience, signed a message asking the Senate to end its consideration of the treaty."

It's Not An Arrest Warrant

Challenging a Red Notice: What Immigration Attorneys Need to Know About INTERPOL [PDF], AILA Law Journal, volume 1, number 1, April 2019.

This was my 1000th piece at Heritage.

"The International Criminal Police Organization—officially ICPO-INTERPOL, commonly known simply as INTERPOL—plays an important role in international law enforcement, and its publications are often used in U.S. immigration and asylum cases. But neither INTERPOL nor its publications, such as its famous “Red Notice,” are well understood. This can lead attorneys to fail to appropriately challenge Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or immigration judge (IJ) assertions about INTERPOL that are often incorrect. For example, too often IJs uncritically defer to INTERPOL publications in their decisions, resulting in extended detention time or denials of bonds and other requests for immigration benefits, and in general causing serious damage to an individual’s U.S. immigration case."

Is London Ready for It?

Trump’s State Visit to UK Part of Observances of D-Day Anniversary, Heritage Daily Signal, April 24, 2019. "The White House announced Tuesday that it has accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II for President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump to make a state visit to the United Kingdom."

Second Time A Tragedy (Like the First)

Second Arab Spring? Not Quite, Newsday, April 14, 2019. "There is a second Arab Spring in the air in North Africa. In Algeria and Sudan, two of the most miserably repressive dictators on the African continent have fallen to popular protests. That sounds hopeful — but we know the catastrophes the first Arab Spring brought after 2011. The second Spring promises worse."

Another Constitution Bites the Dust

More Brexit Vs. Remain, Washington Times, April 1, 2019. "Contrary to popular myth, Britain does have a constitution. Unlike the American one, it’s not written down in one place. But Britain has Magna Carta, the 1628 Petition of Right, and the 1689 Bill of Rights. It also has centuries of precedent governing how business in Parliament is to be done. And Brexit’s opponents are trashing that constitution."

Dribbling Off Their Foot

Brits Have Their Own March Madness, Newsday, March 31, 2019. "In the NCAA basketball tournament, all but one team lose. In Britain, as the House of Commons votes and votes again on Brexit, having even one winner would be a novelty. The difference is that on the basketball court, unlike in Britain, the competition isn't between illusions."

Interpol's Fundamental Flaw

Interpol CCF’s Latest Annual Report Highlights Fundamental Flaw in the System, Forbes, March 31, 2019. "The Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files (CCF), which is responsible for insuring that Interpol complies with its own rules, has published its annual report on its activities in 2017. Though any report is better than none, the report disappointingly fails to provide full transparency on the CCF’s activities by not identifying the nations that are actually responsible for requesting Red Notices that are later deleted for not complying with Interpol’s rules. That said, the report does make it clear that Interpol’s system has a fundamental flaw that allows nations to repeatedly abuse the rules."

The ATF Gets Worse Under Trump

Why Is the ATF Making Secret Rules for the Firearms Industry?, "Anyone who says that the firearms industry just hates the ATF because the ATF is reining in the cowboys by private letter is, frankly, ignorant. The firearms industry is already one of the most heavily-regulated in the United States. Anyone who works in this industry and doesn’t follow the rules can get in big trouble very quickly. What the firearms industry wants is for ATF policies and interpretations to be open and transparent so as to promote an even playing field."

Cheney v. Pence

Trump’s Right: Allies Need To Do More, Newsday, March 17, 2019. "Former Vice President Richard Cheney and current Vice President Mike Pence had an argument last week. It revolved around a major theme in the Trump administration’s foreign policy: that U.S. allies should pay more of the costs of the American security guarantee."

Just Rip It Off Already!

Britain’s Brexit Delay is Ridiculous, Washington Times, March 15, 2019. "Britain’s House of Commons has voted to request a delay in Britain’s exit from the European Union. It’s like a kid who removes a band-aid slowly hoping it’ll hurt less. Far better to rip it off and be done with it."

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."

How Much Do We Pay Together?

How Large is the Democratic World's Financial Contribution to Interpol?, Forbes, February 28, 2019. "t seems likely that, given the size of the Foundation’s gifts (which amount to 5.74% of Interpol’s total revenue in 2017), the democratic share is less than their 84.15% share of the assessed contributions. A reasonable estimate is that the democracies are responsible for between 75% and 80% of Interpol’s funding , and that UAE controls the single largest non-democratic share (about 3.5 times larger than China’s contributions)."

How Much Do We Pay?

How Large Is the U.S. Budgetary Contribution to Interpol, Forbes, February 28, 2019. "All told, therefore, U.S. payments to Interpol likely amount annually to around 17 million Euros, or $19 million. That is around 15.5 percent of Interpol’s total operating expenses, which seems a reasonable estimate of the share of Interpol’s budget paid by the U.S."

Competition, the Reality

In the Left’s World, It’s All About Us, Newsday, February 17, 2019. "On Wednesday, the House of Representatives made a rare use of the War Powers Act by voting 248 to 177 to cut off U.S. military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. Yet again, the left has refused to recognize that international relations are fundamentally competitive."

The Annual NDAA Blockbuster

The Role of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in Rebuilding the U.S. Military, contributor, Heritage Foundation Special Report #208, February 6, 2019. "The FY 2020 defense budget will be the most important defense budget of the Trump Administration. In great measure, the FY 2020 budget will determine the destiny of the military rebuild championed by President Trump and by Congress. Due to recent budget increases, the military has seen gains in readiness, but the rebuild is far from a completed task. Every service has expressed the imperative to increase in size and in capabilities in order to counter great power competition as described in the National Defense Strategy. The FY 2020 defense budget represents the fork in the road for the military rebuild and for the viability of the defense strategy. The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will be a clear signal of how Congress intends to shape the resources that will define the military’s effort and direction. In this Special Report, Heritage Foundation analysts detail 57 recommendations for Congress on how to continue the crucial rebuilding of the U.S. military through the 2020 NDAA."

At Your Throat or At Your Knees

Europeans Forgive the Russians, Again, Newsday, February 3, 2019. "In recent years, Germany has often been lauded as a heroic defender of the free world. As former Obama speechwriter Ben Rhodes relates, President Barack Obama said goodbye to Chancellor Angela Merkel with a sad “She’s all alone.” But Germany is not alone. It is trying to cut deals with Russia. Russia is far more popular in Germany than Obama’s whimper implied."

Ignorance in the Eye of the Beholder

Are Brexit Supporters Ignorant?, Forbes, January 31, 2019. "One of the common tropes of opposition to Brexit — Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) as the result of the national referendum held in June 2016 — is that voters who supported remaining in the EU are better informed than those who voted to leave. This claim has a distinct feeling of sour grapes: no one would have much cared why anyone voted for Brexit if Remain had won. Arguments that Remain is the smart take are primarily about discrediting Brexit."

The Right Path in ITAR Reform

No, Firearm Exports Aren’t Being Decontrolled, Forbes, January 30, 2019. "Over the next month, expect the left-wing press to tell you that the Trump administration, with its usual disregard for all that is right and sensible, is decontrolling exports of firearms, which will inevitably result in a flood of American firearms washing around the world and allow any terrorist or dictator to buy from the American market. All this is a flat-out falsehood."

What's Been Done, and Not Done, on Firearms

I Spoke with Gun Manufacturers From Across America. Their Optimism is Waning, Daily Signal, January 28, 2019. "Two years ago at the annual SHOT Show—the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show, run by the National Shooting Sports Foundation—Second Amendment supporters felt optimism that the first year of the Trump administration would bring good things to firearm makers, sellers, and users. This year, there was a lot less optimism."

The Long Hard Road to . . .

Fear Factor: Brexit’s Long and Hard Road, Newsday, January 20, 2019. "On June 23, 2016, Britain voted — after a national referendum of unparalleled intensity — to leave the European Union. The complicated path Britain has taken to exit the EU reflects the history of the European issue — and why Britain voted rightly."

My Fish Paper

Commercial Fishing in the High Seas Arctic: The U.S. Needs A Treaty, Not An Executive Agreement, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #3375, January 15, 2019. "On October 3, 2018, the U.S. signed the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated Commercial Fishing on the High Seas of the Central Arctic Ocean, which applies precautionary conservation and management measures to ensure the sustainable use of fish stocks. While the agreement has a laudable purpose, it is susceptible to being undermined by non-parties, and should have taken the form of a treaty, not an executive agreement. The U.S. should seek to negotiate such a treaty."

A Trump Strategy?

Trump Faces Decisions of Great Powers, Newsday, January 6, 2019. "From criticizing NATO and the World Trade Organization, to quitting the UN Human Rights Council, to dropping out of the Paris climate deal and the Iran nuclear deal, and now to pulling U.S. forces out of Syria, President Donald Trump is not shy about making big calls. And those big calls all have the same target."