Outside the Beltway

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a bombastic speech on Iran yesterday that reveals just how empty and dangerous the Trump Administration’s policy toward Iran actually is.

Russia wasn’t the only nation that sent people to meet with Trump Campaign officials at Trump Tower back in 2016 regarding assistance to the Trump Campaign.

Celebrations and a deadly day in the Middle East.

Does the administration know what it is doing?

As expected, President Trump has withdrawn the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran. There was no rational basis for doing so.

The new Secretary of State is an improvement over the worst Secretary of State in history.

Israeli Prime Minister gave a speech yesterday designed to undermine the nuclear deal with Iran. The evidence was unconvincing, but the speech was really only aimed at an audience of one.

Ronny Jackson did not invent the practice of giving Ambien and Provigil to high-level government workers.

For better or worse, Mike Pompeo will be confirmed as the 70th Secretary of State by the end of this week.

French President Emmanuel Macron is in the U.S. hoping to lobby President Trump to keep the United States in the nuclear deal with Iran. He’s got his work cut out for him.

There is no obvious strategy and even the expressed rationale makes no sense.

The United States can’t do any good in Syria, but we can do a lot of bad.

Even the United Nations has given up trying to maintain an accurate estimate.

President Trump took to Twitter this morning and decided poke a stick in the eye of the Russian bear.

The United States has several options in Syria. None of them are good and one of them would be disastrous.

A response to one of the most deadly chemical attacks in the Syrian civil war has come, probably from Israel. What’s next?

Dan Drezner notes some challenges on this topic, and I add some of my own thoughts.

President Trump seems intent on walking away from the nuclear deal with Iran. If he does, he’ll be handing a gift to Iran and harming American national interests significantly.

In selecting John Bolton as his National Security Adviser, Donald Trump has signaled to the world that he’s likely to take action that will only serve to make the world a more dangerous place.

Turkish security personnel who assaulted peaceful protestors in America’s capital will go free.

Americans actings as agents for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been working hard to manipulate the President.

The selection of Mike Pompeo as the next Secretary of State makes it more likely that President Trump will take the foolish and dangerous step of withdrawing the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran.

Nine years later, at least one member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee is admitting what seemed at the time a rather obvious fact.

By threatening to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran, Donald Trump is making it far less likely that any upcoming talks with North Korea will succeed.

The Russia investigation rolls on with more evidence of questionable conduct on the part of Trump and his team.

In 2017, there were ten Saudis on Forbes’ billionaires list. This year, there are none.

The circumstantial case for corruption by Kushner is growing.

Under Nelson Mandela’s leadership, the country made a smooth transition from apartheid. Now it’s going the way of Zimbabwe.

I’ve made the sad discovery that longtime friend of the blog John Burgess passed away on February 16, 2016.

The White House chief of staff has downgraded the President’s son-in-law’s access to classified information. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Continuing a long-standard tradition, the Trump Administration claims it doesn’t need to get legal authorization to keep American troops in Syria.

More security clearance problems for the White House.

Israeli police have recommended that charges be brought against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Whether that damages him politically remains to be seen.

More than a year into the Trump Presidency, dozens of White House personnel lack proper security clearances.

A Federal Judge In Kansas has blocked enforcement of a state law barring anyone who does business with the state from engaging in a boycott of Israel.

The Trump Administration has acted in a manner to create the impression that there is “no daylight” between the United States and Israel. This is a myth, and pursuing such a goal poses real dangers for America’s national interests.

America’s closest European allies are rebuffing the Trump Administration’s efforts to renegotiate the nuclear deal with Iran. They’re right to do so.

Americans were once largely united in their opinions about Israel and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. That’s not the case anymore.

While everyone is paying attention to the government shutdown, the Trump Administration is preparing for a never-ending, unwise, and unauthorized military commitment in Syria.

Anti-government protests are spreading in Iran.

Donald Trump’s Jerusalem decision reveals yet again that he is an appallingly bad deal maker.

A foolish, and potentially dangerous, decision by President Trump.

Senator Al Franken faces new charges of sexually inappropriate conduct on the same day that House Democrats are beginning to pressure one of their members to resign.

It appears that Rex Tillerson’s days at the State Department may be numbered, but his proposed replacement leaves a lot to be desired.

A horrible terror attack in Egypt.

A Los Angeles reporter says that Minnesota Senator Al Franken groped her and engaged in other inappropriate conduct during a 2006 USO tour.

It appears Russia attempted to influence last year’s Brexit vote in the same manner it did the 2016 election in the United States.

The capital of the purported caliphate declared by ISIS has apparently fallen, but that doesn’t mean the end of ISIS. In fact, it may make the group more dangerous.

Iraqi military forces begin to crack down against Iraqi Kurds after last month’s independence referendum.