APB… National Emergency? 15 Feb 201915 Feb 2019 Donald Trump’s power play in order to get his border wall built would seem to be unconstitutional on its face. But courts may well uphold his action. “Congress’s delegation to…
American Politics and the World… Post #149: Fighting Back 7 Feb 201727 Feb 2017 Since Inauguration Day, the streets of US cities have been filled with protesters. Major demonstrations are being planned to follow up on the hugely successful Women’s March. Environmental, science, human…
BLOG… Post #102 – Endless War, Undeclared and Undebated 27 Dec 201527 Feb 2017 The death of six US soldiers in Afghanistan on December 21 at the hands of a Taliban suicide bomber brings to twenty-one the number of US combat deaths there in…
BLOG… Post #70 – When It Comes to Foreign Policy, Obama Has the Upper Hand 13 Mar 201527 Feb 2017 The President and quite a few members of Congress are at a standoff over two important issues of foreign-policy process. Many in Congress, from both parties, dislike his proposal for…
BLOG… Post #68 – Netanyahu’s Visit and the US Opportunity 26 Feb 201527 Feb 2017 Washington is on edge these days. Democrats are bewildered, the President is seething, Republicans are salivating, K Street and J Street lobbyists are working overtime—all because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…
BLOG… Post #67 – Presidents and War 14 Feb 201527 Feb 2017 President Obama has submitted a request to Congress for authorization—actually, reauthorization—of wars the United States has been fighting for many years. Though he considered the initial authorization in 2001 to…
BLOG… Post #59 – What Works: Engaging Cuba 17 Dec 201427 Feb 2017 President Obama has finally reversed what he called the “failed policy” of isolating Cuba, announcing today (December 17) the start of normal relations. “These 50 years [without official relations] have…
BLOG… Post #56 – What is to be Done? Six Paths to a New US Policy in the Middle East 1 Dec 201427 Feb 2017 If I am correct that the United States has once again fallen into a quagmire in the Middle East, one with some of the same features that marked the Vietnam…
BLOG… Post #55 – Obama’s Wars: Deeper into the Quagmire 25 Nov 201427 Feb 2017 President Obama continues to do everything to fulfill his prediction of September 12 that the Middle East wars will long outlast his administration. At that time (see my post #47,…
American Politics and the World… Post #52 – The Dis-United States and the Withering of the American Model 6 Nov 201427 Feb 2017 American leaders of both parties have always prided themselves on the model democracy that they believe all other countries would benefit from adopting. It’s part of our belief…
BLOG… Post #45 – America on Crusade: Now It’s Obama’s Turn 14 Sep 201427 Feb 2017 George F. Kennan, one of America’s greatest statesmen, warned in his classic American Diplomacy (1951) and many times thereafter of the country’s tendency to universalize its self-conceptions and its aims,…