Outside the Beltway

The President has another plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. It’s as likely to be well-received on Capitol Hill as all of his other previous plans on this issue.

The futility of US policy towards Cuba is obvious to anyone who gives it even a passingly objective assessment.

The godfather of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine has passed.

Another step forward with regard to the American-Cuban relationship.

Get ready for an expansion of the war against ISIS into Libya, because it’s probably not far away.

China’s economy is still growing, but it’s most recently reported growth rate is slower than the nation has seen in quite some time.

Another hopeful step forward, thanks to diplomacy.

The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola Outbreak that began in 2014 to be officially over.

Ten American sailors detained by Iranian forces late Tuesday were released early today, something that seems to clearly demonstrate the value of diplomacy.

The United States and South Korea are hinting at increased military cooperation in the wake of last week’s North Korean nuclear test.

Experts are casting doubt on North Korea’s claim that it tested a thermonuclear device earlier this week.

The North Koreans claim to have made a major advance in their nuclear weapons program, but there are many reasons to be skeptical.

After more than three decades, the men and women held hostage in Iran for 444 days will receive at least some compensation.

Donald Trump displays some appalling ignorance about an important part of America’s military, but his supporters are unlikely to care.

Marine Le Pen suffered setbacks in the second round of regional voting on Sunday, but the party still seems likely to become more popular in the coming years.

Representatives from 195 nations reached an agreement supposedly devoted to addressing global climate change, but it’s really more hype than anything else.

Some analysts are already suggesting that Russia’s two month old intervention in Syria is becoming a quagmire. That seems to be a premature judgment, but it’s not accomplishing much more than anything the West is doing.

North Korea’s mercurial leader now claims to have thermonuclear weapons, but analysts are saying this is likely braggadocios nonsense.

Donald Trump’s plan to exclude Muslims from the United States is provoking condemnation, and confusion, around the world.

Europe’s anti-immigrant, xenophobic far right scored major victories in France yesterday.

For an Oval Office address delivered on a Sunday night, President Obama’s speech last night sounded more like a statement read from the podium in the press room.

NATO is extending full membership to the tiny nation of Montenegro, and there doesn’t seem to be a good reason why they’re doing it.

The German Parliament has approved expansion of the nation’s involvement in the campaign against ISIS, but that doesn’t make the current campaign any less incoherent.

The British Parliament has approved expansion of that countries airstrikes into Syria, but it’s unclear just how much of an impact that will have on the ground.

A vote is still as much as two years away, and support for staying in the E.U. still has the most support, but support for the idea of a British exit from the European Union has grown in the past several months.

The election of an anti-austerity government in Portugal is raising some concerns.

France’s President has spent the week trying to forge and agreement on an anti-ISIS policy, but the two nations that matter the most also disagree the most.

Tensions between Russia and Turkey remain high in the wake of yesterday’s incident, but there are some signs that things are starting to cool down.

Hillary Clinton’s recently announced policies toward the ISIS fight are as incoherent and misguided as President Obama’s and those of her Republican opponents.

A potentially big complication in an already complicated situation.

A new poll taken in the wake of the Paris attacks finds Americans increasingly fearful of ISIS attacks in the U.S., opposed to the admission of Syrian refugees, and not very confident in President Obama’s ability to deal with the ISIS threat.

Disturbing reports over the weekend that American leaders may not be getting the kind of unbiased intelligence analysis about ISIS that they need to make decisions.