Cost Imposition, Iran, and Syria

U.S. Syria Policy Has No Staying Power, Newsday, December 20, 2013. "Sooner or later, this war will end. So the United States must decide who it wants to win. And the victor must not be the Assad regime. The dangers of an Islamist takeover are undeniable. But Assad also has Islamist allies based in Tehran. And unlike the Syrian rebels, Tehran's radicals have a nuclear weapons program."

The Case of Zurab Adeishvili

Zurab Adeishvili and the Trouble with Interpol, Contentions, December 16, 2013. "Interpol is in many ways a strange organization. Strange, because most of what people know about it is wrong. For example, it’s not an international police force; it’s more like an international police bulletin board. Strange because, unlike too many international organizations, it exists more for what it does than what it says. And strange because, though like the U.N. it’s numerically dominated by the autocracies, it has escaped being organizationally dominated by them: the secretary general of Interpol has always been French, British, or–as today–American."

Interpol and the Risks of Irresponsibility

Don’t Look to Hollywood for the Truth About Interpol, Heritage Foundation Foundry, December 16, 2013. "This week on the big screen, martial arts master Jason Statham tangles with James Franco in Homefront. Statham’s on-screen backstory? He’s a British Interpol agent who retires to rural Louisiana, where he runs afoul of Franco and his gang. As a story, it’s not bad. But as a depiction of Interpol, it’s laughable."

Ten Years After Saddam's Fall

Lesson of Saddam’s Fall is that War Can Be Best Way to Justice, Yorkshire Post, December 13, 2013. "It was only a decade ago that US forces pulled Saddam Hussein out of his spiderhole at a farmhouse in ad-Dawr, near his home town of Tikrit. That success – indeed, that war – seems now to belong to another century. But it’s not so far removed from today’s travails."

Interpol's Strengths and Abuses

Necessary Reforms Can Keep Interpol Working in the U.S. Interest, with David Kopel, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #2861, December 11, 2013. " The U.S. should act to protect U.S. citizens and individuals with a U.S. nexus who are unjustly targeted by an Interpol notice or diffusion and should seek to reform Interpol’s diffusion system."

What Hollywood Gets Wrong About Interpol

Hollywood, ‘Homefront,’ and the Very Real Problems Facing Interpol, Foxnews.com, December 9, 2013. "Because of its autocratic members, Interpol is drifting into trouble. And while Jason Statham can punch his way out of his difficulties, the same isn’t true of Interpol’s victims, who are trapped in a legal nightmare. Hollywood doesn’t have a clue about the real Interpol. And thanks to it, neither do most Americans. The U.S. should strongly support the things that Interpol does well. But it should also take steps to ensure that Interpol does not allow rogues like Iran and Russia to abuse it for their own evil purposes."

What Bad Deals Have In Common

President Obama Flunks ‘Make A Deal 101’, Newsday, December 6, 2013. "The administration has made four big international deals since 2009: the New START Treaty with Russia, the UN Arms Trade Treaty, the Syrian chemical weapons arrangement and, now, the enrichment deal with Iran. They share a disturbing set of characteristics."

Reasons for Caution on TTIP

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): Pitfalls and Promises, with Rea S. Hederman Jr., Bryan Riley and Luke Coffey, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4100, December 5, 2013. "The promotion of economic freedom is a vital part of U.S. foreign and domestic policy. A TTIP that genuinely reduced trade barriers would contribute significantly to this aim. But, though negotiations are still at an early stage, there are reasons to be concerned that TTIP will not free trade but instead build a transatlantic managed market. This would reduce or even eliminate U.S. gains from TTIP and would not promote economic freedom. The U.S. should continue negotiating but be cautious and assess any agreement on its merits."

The Need For A Positive No to the EU

UK Needs Freedom to Pick Talent from the Whole World, Yorkshire Post, November 23, 2013. "The EU’s problems are real, and underneath, they will drive voting in the referendum. But the Out campaign needs not just the Thatcherite spirit of rebellion: it needs her optimism. Even in terms of immigration, the EU means favouring talent from Europe, a tiny part of the world, at the expense of talent from the rest of it. And that makes less sense today for Britain than it ever did in the past."

A Question of National Honor

When We Leave, Friends Suffer First, Newsday, November 22, 2013. "My bottom line on U.S. foreign policy is to keep faith with our friends. Once we make a promise, we uphold it. Now, if a friend breaks faith with us, the deal is off. We're called upon to be true to our word, not to be suckers."

On the Curious Contradictions Between Obama's Foreign and Domestic Policies

Barack Obama Doubles Down Abroad, Newsday, November 8, 2013. "Obama's policy of backing down abroad and doubling down at home is out of sync with the American system. Under the Constitution, the president is supposed to be energetic abroad, but restrained at home. This president has been the reverse. His approach has served the nation poorly, and in any deal with Iran, it will prove disastrous."

Winston's Back!

Bust of Winston Churchill Dedicated in U.S. Capitol, Heritage Foundation Foundry, November 1, 2013. "Congress dedicated a bust of Winston Churchill, one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century and an honorary American citizen, in a ceremony this week in the magnificent Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol. The event was a powerful tribute to Churchill’s leadership and to his great legacy in the United States and around the world."

As Cameron Goes, So Goes (Maybe) the GOP

Britain’s Lesson for U.S. Conservatives, Newsday, October 25, 2013. "Britain is led by a coalition of two parties: the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. That may well change in 2015, after the next election. Conservatives’ difficulties in Britain offer lessons for their U.S. counterparts."

The ATT's Race to 50 -- In The Senate

Good News From Washington – UN Arms Trade Treaty DOA in US Senate, Foxnews.com, October 18, 2013. "Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) released a bipartisan letter this week signed by 48 of their colleagues pledging to oppose the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which Secretary of State John Kerry signed on behalf of the United States in September. This letter makes it clear that the Senate will not ratify the treaty in the foreseeable future."

The Considered Congressional Response to US ATT Signature

Senate Decisively Rejects U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation Foundry, October 15, 2013. "The U.S. Senate responded decisively today to Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent signature of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). In a bipartisan letter led by Senators Jerry Moran (R–KS) and Joe Manchin (D–WV), half of the Senate has officially pledged to oppose the ratification of the ATT. The signatories include every Republican Senator except Mark Kirk (R–IL) and 5 Democratic Senators. The letter, with its 50 signatories, ends any hope in the foreseeable future of Senate ratification of the ATT."

The Separation of Powers Works

The Real Insanity Inside the Beltway, Newsday October 11, 2013. "The American government was not created to do lots of things, except for in a few areas such like as the national defense. It was intended to be a limited government. It certainly wasn’t created to run a national health care system, especially one of unprecedented cost and complexity."

The Commonwealth Is Not "The" Alternative to the EU

Flexible Relations Will Help Britain Achieve a More Prosperous Future, Yorkshire Post, October 7, 2013. "Britain doesn’t need to be part of any one dominant bloc. What Britain needs above all is the national flexibility and determination to make good policies on its own, and that’s exactly what the EU denies it. Looking around for a new home is a much less useful activity than checking out of the European emergency ward."

The EU As Carcass

Under Obama, the U.S. Clings to the Carcass of the European Union, Forward!, Autumn 2013. "The EU today is a carcass, the shred of an old policy that once had a solid basis, but is now merely a rag. It is time for Britain to cut loose, and for the United States to recognize that a sovereign Britain, able to trade freely around the world and unshackled by the ever more supranational EU, would be a better friend and a better ally than a Britain slowly and reluctantly submerged in a deeply undemocratic EU will ever be. It must be the conservative mission in both Britain and the United States to make that recognition a policy reality on both sides of the Atlantic."

Syrian War Won't End There

Jihad is the War that Won’t End, Newsday, September 27, 2013. "When that conflict ends, the forces opposing Assad will move elsewhere, including to Europe. We may not want to intervene in Syria, but Syria is likely to intervene in us."

The Initial Congressional Response to US ATT Signature

As Kerry Signs “Less than Useless” U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, Congress Responds, Heritage Foundation Foundry, September 25, 2013. "Today, Secretary of State John Kerry signed the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) on behalf of the United States. The reaction from Congress has been immediate, and rightfully so."

Options Remain for ATT Opposition

U.N. Arms Treaty Will Be Menace to U.S. For Years to Come, FoxNews.com, September 25, 2013. "Secretary of State John Kerry’s signature of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty today was a serious error, one that will have far-reaching consequences for American foreign policy and American sovereignty. Those consequences will be even worse because the Senate, which has signaled many times that it is opposed to the treaty, will likely have no real opportunity to reject it."

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."

No Staying Power

Dictators and Despots Call Obama’s Bluff Over His War of Empty Words, Yorkshire Post, September 16, 2013. "The Russian role in the Syrian crisis is thus not the really dangerous part of the affair. The true danger lies in the fact that, once again, President Obama has shown that he has no staying power at all. He quit in Iraq, because that was supposedly the wrong war. Afghanistan was, he said, the right one. Well, we are quitting there too."

The Coming Slaughters

What About All the Other Massacres?, Newsday, September 15, 2013. "The Taliban will return, and they will take vengeance. Today, you can easily find savage videos of Taliban atrocities online. When they are back in power, they will be worse. And when they execute people for the crime of being friendly to the United States, we should remember that — as across the Middle East — we had the power to make a difference. We just chose not to use it."

Norms for Me, But Not for Thee

The Connections Between Syria and the Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation Foundry, September 11, 2013. "Whether or not it is wise to arm rebels in Syria today, it is clearly not sensible for the U.S. to decide in advance that it will never arm a rebel group again. That would mean a rejection of the Reagan Doctrine that the U.S. will seek, guided by its national interests, to arm opponents of dictatorial regimes."