Outside the Beltway

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is one of the few Republicans who seems to be evaluating the new policy toward Cuba through something other than an outdated Cold War perspective.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and expansion of some commercial trade ties, is historic but it’s only the first step toward the goal of ending an outdated embargo.

An American freed from captivity, and potentially huge changes in America’s diplomatic and trade relationship with Cuba.

Vladimir Putin’s latest actions seems to have exhausted Germany’s patience.

Vladimir Putin’s reception at the G-20 Summit in Australia has been less than warm thanks to recent events in Ukraine.

Despite the conciliatory language after Tuesday, it’s unlikely that much will change in Washington in the next two years.

There’s more to life than politics. Unfortunately, there are many Americans who don’t seem to recognize that fact.

Quietly, oil prices have been falling for months now. That’s potentially a very big deal.

The U.S. embargo of Cuba, and our lack of diplomatic recognition of the government in Havana, is an outdated relic of the Cold War. It’s time to end it.

We’ve got one foot in two very different technological worlds.

In the current situation, speaking out forcefully as some are demanding can only do more harm than good.

Newly released documents reveal that Henry Kissinger wanted to attack Cuba in the mid-1970s.

The Khorasan Group is, functionally, al Qaeda. Or is it?

The sixth year of a presidency leads to some predictable commentary (and some comparative notes).

It’s all over but the voting in Scotland.

If the President is going to increase American involvement in the Middle East, he needs to address some fundamental questions first.

The rebels in eastern Ukraine continue to suffer setbacks, and Russia is massing troops on the border again.

Even with the passage of time, Watergate remains a singularly important event in American history

The U.S. and Europe have announced a new round of sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis, but it’s not clear that the Russians will be motivated to change course.

What the West does in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine is largely up to Europe, not the United States.

Relying on the policies of a man who was President in a very different time is not a substitute for a rational foreign policy.

George Will has come under criticism for pointing out what seems to be an undeniable fact.

Rick Perry and Rand Paul are highlighting what looks to be a coming battle inside the GOP over foreign policy.

My latest for The National Interest, “Europe’s Free Ride on the American-Defense Gravy Train,” has posted.

The Kentucky Senator and former Vice-President are at the front of a battle that will unfold inside the GOP as we head toward 2016.

Lawmakers and journalists don’t understand the civil service.

Not surprisingly, Bill Clinton is the most admired recent President according to a new poll, but his predecessor seems to be underrated.

Twenty-five years after his seminal “End of History” article, Francis Fukuyama reflects on its legacy.

For the fourth time in 30 years, an American President spoke at Normandy to honor a day of sacrifice and triumph.

Today’s foreign-policy disputes rarely consider the way America’s response to one crisis might affect another.

Is “Finlandization” a viable option for Ukraine?

A new poll indicates that most Americans don’t want to see the United States intervening overseas.

In retrospect, and in comparison with other recent Presidents, George Herbert Walker Bush’s four years in office were pretty darn good.

At least on Capitol Hill, the political middle is dead and buried.