FEATURED

7Jul 20206 Jul 2020

Post #267: In China, Your DNA Belongs to the State

The roundup and incarceration of hundreds of thousands of people of a specific ethnic or religious group has all too…

24Jun 202023 Jun 2020

Post #266: Banana Republic or Constitutional Democracy? The US Military May Decide

Donald Trump’s appearance at the West Point graduation ceremonies a few weeks ago reminded some observers of the Class of…

Post #265: Voting for the Human Interest: An Invitation to Readers

We’re in a new and dangerous era now, described by Stephen Heintz, CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, as one…

APB

APB: Derelict Leadership on Health Security

21 Mar 202021 Mar 2020

If one event shows both Trump’s flawed character and his ineptitude, it would have to be his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. It is all about him, claiming superior knowledge…

BLOG

Post #257: NUKES: The Unmentionable Election Issue (Part 2)

17 Mar 202015 Mar 2020

Getting to Zero Where are the Democrats? Why isn’t the present nuclear danger front and center in the Democrats’ presidential debates? I can think of a few reasons. First, Democrats…

BLOG

Post #256: NUKES: The Unmentionable Election Issue (Part 1)

9 Mar 20208 Mar 2020

Overkill More is Better One of these days, national security policy will get a few minutes of campaign debate time. And when that day occurs, perhaps—just perhaps—attention will turn to…

APB

APB: Embarrassing Moments from Trump’s Visit to India

Donald Trump abroad never ceases to entertain with his ignorance and misstatements. As India’s leaders learned from Trump’s previous visits to Saudi Arabia and China, all it takes is pomp…

APB

APB: Thanks to Trump, Iran Has the Upper Hand

8 Jan 20208 Jan 2020

The assassination of General Soleimani is proving to be a resounding success for Iran. It accomplished what the ayatollah could not: common ground between Iran and Iraq, Iraq’s invitation to…

BLOG

Post #247: From President to Autocrat

6 Nov 20195 Nov 2019

An Autocrat Like All Others A recent special issue of Foreign Affairs is devoted to profiling some of the world’s most prominent autocrats: Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,…

BLOG

Post #244: Listen to the Children

23 Sep 201922 Sep 2019

The Republicans are on the sidelines on the climate crisis. Government scientists are muzzled. Leading Democrats—though not all—are cautious. CEOs of some of America’s biggest corporations are pledging action while…

BLOG

Post #243: No War for Saudi Oil!

17 Sep 201922 Sep 2019

Even if US intelligence decisively shows that some of the drones and cruise missiles used in the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields originated in Iran, a decision to go…

Post #240: Our Racist President

31 Jul 201930 Jul 2019

"Donald Trump lost the election because he veered so far off course from what it means to be a decent person, to be a leader, and to be an American.…

APB…

APB: The Caging of Human Rights

At a hearing yesterday (July 12) on the Trump administration’s immigration policies, Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia was appropriately livid: "I never thought as a member of Congress — as…

BLOG

Post #263: Donald Trump’s Stealth Attack on America

2 Jun 20201 Jun 2020

Donald Trump has made the calculated decision to let the pandemic play out without need of a federal plan for disease treatment and economic recovery. Over 100,000 deaths mean nothing…

APB

APB: “Standing Up” for Hong Kong

Has Xi Jinping finally overplayed his hand? The new security law for Hong Kong may be just that. Whereas the “cultural genocide” in Xinjiang, the roundup of lawyers and journalists…

BLOG

Post #262: Weaponizing the Virus

22 May 202021 May 2020

China is “the central threat of our times,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in January 2020. Since then, the Trump administration has done everything it can to pump up…

BLOG

Post #261: For Trump, It’s Mission Accomplished

“We have met the moment and we have prevailed,” Donald Trump said at a news briefing May 11. “The moment” is quite a departure from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s idea that…

BLOG

Post 260: The Coming New World Disorder

3 May 20202 May 2020

After the demise of the Soviet Union and the US intervention that crushed Saddam Hussein’s attack on Kuwait in 1991, President George H. W. Bush pronounced a new world order.…

BLOG

Post #259: AWOL: Trump’s Disappearing Leadership

19 Apr 202019 Apr 2020

Who's In Charge? Donald Trump’s political strategy during the coronavirus pandemic is simple: insist the federal government only plays a backup role when it comes to providing needed services and…

BLOG

Post #258: Putin Forever!

3 Apr 20202 Apr 2020

(Note to Readers: Authoritarian leaders everywhere—yes, that includes the US—are exploiting internal challenges such as the coronavirus pandemic to expand their power to repress their citizens. These power grabs also…

APB

APB: Trump’s Cure and Our Disease

26 Mar 202026 Mar 2020

The surgeon-general said so. The federal reserve chairman said so. Epidemiologists across the US said so. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the most credible member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, said so.…

APB

APB: Poor Bill Barr

14 Feb 202017 Feb 2020

Attorney General William Barr’s interview the other day in which he said Trump’s constant tweeting had made his job “impossible” has gotten mixed responses in the media. Some think the…

BLOG

Post #255: Donald Trump’s Fantasy World

House speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up Donald Trump’s speech, saying he was “shredding the truth.” It was quite a moment, and though she took some heat for such an impertinent…

BLOG

Post #254: India’s Failed Democracy

22 Jan 202021 Jan 2020

Citizenship Denied India is often billed as the world’s biggest democracy. But that title has worn thin: Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is becoming a nationalist state home to…

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