What Is ‘The Trump Doctrine’?
As presidencies approach their midpoints, pundits begin the inevitable search for that elusive creature. The doctrine. It’s often a quixotic quest, since presidents rarely boil down their foreign-policy visions — if they even have them — to some pithy essence. Then there’s Donald Trump. Conjuring up the current president’s... Read more
Playing Trump for Peace
When, in early March 2018, Donald Trump agreed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the Washington foreign policy elite nearly suffered a collective heart attack. For one thing, the announcement came as a complete surprise. Trump had telegraphed his other foreign policy bombshells well in advance. Leaving... Read more
Donald Trump Tells the World to Drop Dead
Pres. Donald Trump has a plan to solve America’s drug crisis. Kill the drug dealers. “We have pushers and drugs dealers, they are killing hundreds and hundreds of people,” Trump said at a recent White House summit on opioid abuse. “Some countries have a very, very tough penalty —... Read more
The Geopolitics of Crazy
The United States has beaten its head against the wall of North Korea for more than 70 years, and that wall has changed little indeed as a result. The United States, meanwhile, has suffered one headache after another. Over the last several weeks, the head banging has intensified. North... Read more
Goodbye Pacific Pivot, Hello Pacific Retreat
Asia has been the future for more than a generation. When Americans try to glimpse what’s to come, images of the Pacific Rim flood the imagination. For movie audiences in 1982, the rain-soaked Los Angeles of Blade Runner looked like downtown Tokyo. By 2014, the City of Angels in... Read more