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Is Obama’s Syria Policy Defensible?
October 18, 2016 6 min. read

Has Obama has been taking the “least bad” course on Syria? Reflecting on the last two decades of U.S. foreign policy interventions, the answer is yes.

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Why Obama Needs a Second Thought on “No First Use”
August 30, 2016 6 min. read

Maybe the U.S. is ready to adopt a “no first use” policy for its nuclear arsenal but its allies, dependent on America’s “nuclear umbrella”, are not.

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The Times Profile That Roiled Washington
June 7, 2016 11 min. read

A newspaper profile of the President’s foreign policy spokesman has created an uproar based on a distorted notion of the role of foreign policy messaging.

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Forty Years After the War, Vietnam Welcomes the U.S.
May 4, 2015 3 min. read

On April 30, Ho Chi Minh City, commonly referred to as Saigon, marked the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam, after the army of communist North Vietnam brought down the government of South Vietnam, and drove out the Americans following two decades of unsuccessful military involvement.

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What a Hillary Presidency Means for China
April 20, 2015 3 min. read

With the announcement of a presidential bid by Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton on April 12, many are starting to question what impact another Clinton in the White House would have on the world’s largest nation, China.

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Zivotofsky v. Kerry: Will Executive Privilege Trump Israel Advocacy?
November 3, 2014 9 min. read

The disputed status of Jerusalem will ostensibly be under review by the U.S. Supreme Court today. Zivotofsky v. Kerry asks whether the president’s so-called “foreign affairs power” — based on his textual duty to “receive ambassadors and other public ministers” — ousts Congress from directing foreign policy.

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Tunnel Vision: How the Egyptian Army “Won” the War over Gaza
October 17, 2014 5 min. read

The Egyptians may not be receiving fulsome applause at the U.N. this week for their diplomacy to date, but quietly, Israeli, Gulf, and American leaders are clapping, in large part due to Cairo’s reaffirmation of a hardline stance against Hamas this past summer.

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Obama Should Take Bob Gates’s Criticism to Heart
January 9, 2014 5 min. read

In earlier posts (here, here, and here), I argued that the Obama administration’s national security process is plagued by extreme insularity, centralization and politicization.  This is a widely held criticism, regularly repeated not just by the president’s detractors but also former administration staffers and friendly commentators.  And the new revelations by Robert M. Gates, the much-respected national security […]

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Obama: Can the “Lonely Guy” Be an Effective Foreign Policy Leader?
November 22, 2013 5 min. read

In earlier posts (here, here,here and here), I’ve argued that the Obama administration’s national security process is plagued by extreme insularity, centralization and politicization.  Ultimately, however, these institutional problems are a reflection of the person sitting in the Oval Office. The deepening Obamacare fiasco has raised plenty of questions about President Obama’s leadership qualities.  But two reports this […]

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On the Establishment of the White House Council on Native American Affairs
July 9, 2013 5 min. read

Executive Order 13647 of U.S. President Barack Obama, signed June 26, 2013, and published July 1, 2013, eponymously established the White House Council on Native American Affairs (the Council). This move reaffirms Obama’s stated commitment to the principles of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The tasks and duties charged to this […]

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