During the Cold War, the US military and the CIA were involved in a multitude of “indirect” interventions in developing countries.  A few—most dramatically and tragically, Vietnam—evolved from a supporting…

President Obama’s engagement with Cuba was one of his administration’s success stories.  The policy shift was based on the entirely realistic as well as humanitarian assessment that permanent estrangement deepens…

The leaders of both parties are divided on numerous matters, but on one critical piece of business they seem united: keep Donald Trump in office.  That rather extraordinary, and by…

On May 30 President Trump tweeted that Russia is “laughing at the U.S.”  If so, it is because the ordinary social and economic agenda of the US government is being…

True to form, President Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris accord on climate change, joining Syria and Nicaragua as the only non-participating states.  He got an earful…

Donald Trump’s visit to NATO headquarters last week was consistent with two of his foreign-policy views: the need to pursue close relations with Russia, and skepticism about NATO's utility. Despite…

Donald Trump seems to be more popular in Saudi Arabia than in the United States.  And the House of Saud knows just how to take advantage of that perception.  Borrowing…

“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” said Donald Trump to James Comey on February 14, a day after General Flynn…

Ambitious national political leaders invariably face a problem: how to get things done in the face of competing interests and institutional rules.  Democratic leaders generally learn how to accommodate those…