Outside the Beltway

The Greatest Of All Time.

President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima left just the impression it should have.

On his trip to Hanoi, President announced the latest sign that the Vietnam War is finally something both nations have manged to put behind them.

With President Obama becoming the first American President to visit Cuba in 88 years, a new poll finds majority support for his changes in Cuba policy.

Nancy Reagan was a crucial part what made Ronald Reagan the man he was, and today she passed away at the age of 94.

My latest for RealClearDefense, “The Forgotten Veterans of Desert Storm,” has posted. The headline belies the argument.

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.

The end of Webbmentum is here, my friends.

Another hopeful step forward, thanks to diplomacy.

President Obama’s final State Of The Union Address was largely a recognition of the fact that his time on the world stage is quickly coming to an end.

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.

Yesterday, the British Parliament debated the expansion of that nation’s military strikes against ISIS. For more than a year, our cowardly Congress has failed to even hold one debate or vote on America’s role in that conflict.

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.

After thirty years in Federal Prison, Jonathan Pollard is a free man. Make no mistake, though. Pollard is not, and never has been, a hero and he deserves to be remembered as nothing but the criminal that he is.

Republicans insist that uttering the words “Radical Islamic Terrorism” is somehow important in the fight against ISIS and other terror networks, but it is entirely unclear what doing so would accomplish.

We are legally, morally, and practically obligated to respond. Let’s not do so stupidly.

In a new book, former President George H.W. Bush is highly critical of two of his son’s closest advisers in the White House.

With the exception of Rand Paul, the foreign policy discussion at last night’s debate was about as bad as you’d expect.

International relations prof mostly assign readings by male scholars. Female profs are slightly less likely to do so.

After 30 years in prison, Jonathan Pollard will be released later this year.

In bringing Holocaust imagery into the debate over the Iran nuclear deal, Mike Huckabee has displayed the intellectual bankruptcy of his position.

A 1980 debate between Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush shows a different GOP.

For the first time since 1961, there will soon be an American Embassy in Havana, and a Cuban Embassy in Washington. It’s well past time that this happened.

It’s easier for an American citizen to go to Iran or North Korea than it is for them to go to Cuba, That’s insane.

Was this simply ordinary intelligence collection? Or something more insidious?

In what seems to be a clear signal to Russia, the U.S. is considering pre-positioning military equipment in nation’s very close to Russian borders.

Another step forward toward ending a U.S. policy regarding Cuba that was outdated twenty years ago.

For reasons only he can understand. South Carolina’s senior Senator will be entering the race for the White House early next month.

Marco Rubio is often described as one of the GOP’s leaders on foreign policy, but a close look reveals a decided lack of substance.

Seventy years ago, Harry Truman became President in the final months of a war. He wasn’t prepared for it, but most Vice-President’s after him have been.

Another step forward for U.S.-Cuban relations.

Unlike most world leaders, Pope Francis is wiling to call a genocide a genocide.

New polling on President Obama’s opening to Cuba is likely to surprise some, and disappoint others.

President George W. Bush had a running battle with the CIA throughout his eight years in office. Now, they’ve given him an award.

Ben Carson doesn’t seem to know much about foreign policy or history. And he doesn’t belong on anyone’s list of serious Presidential candidates.

The intrepid foreign correspondent and editor Arnaud de Borchgrave has died, aged 88, of cancer.

Explaining my ambivalence around the latest escalation in our intervention.

The first installment of my analysis of the National Security Strategy.

Pressure is building on the Administration to send military aid to Ukraine, but it would be a very bad idea.

There’s not a whole lot the United States can do to respond effectively and proportionally to North Korea’s hacking attack against Sony.

Two potential candidates for the Republican nomination in 2016 traded barbs this week over the President’s new policy toward Cuba.

A little round of Qs and As on US-Cuban policy.

Rand Paul is one of the few Republicans who seems to be evaluating the new policy toward Cuba through something other than an outdated Cold War perspective.

The fate of Cuba policy in Congress is far from certain, but what is certain is that following through on President Obama’s historic and necessary changes will face resistance.

The resumption of diplomatic relations between U.S. and Cuba, and expansion of some commercial trade ties, is historic but it’s only the first step toward the goal of ending an outdated embargo.