Outside the Beltway

Vladimir Putin is banning commodity exports.

The American way of war kills a lot of noncombatants.

Not Mayberry. Not even close.

A former classmate is going to be one of the US military’s most senior leaders.

The trailblazing soldier-statesman has died at 84.

Their case is less than persuasive.

For years, American troops fought a ‘forever war’ to delay the inevitable. It’s now coming.

The southern one.

It’s easy if you try.

It’s easy to mismanage what we don’t have to see.

The founder of Small Wars Journal passed Saturday.

President Erdogan is playing a dangerous game.

American negotiators are claiming a ceasefire in northern Syria. The Turks, Syrians, and Russians are the winners, the Kurds are the losers, and we look like schmucks.

The House of Representatives passed a defense spending bill that seeks to limit Presidential authority when it comes to striking Iran and aideing the Saudi war on Yemen.

President Trump is reportedly planning to pardon several American servicemen convicted of war crimes, an action that would be an insult to everyone who has ever worn an American uniform.

After two years of spitting in their faces, President Trump is finding it hard to get America’s European allies to come to his aid.

American involvement in the genocidal Saudi war on Yemen is getting more complicated. This is a bad idea.

The military regime in Myanmar has sentenced two reporters to prison for reporting on the repression of the Rohingya Muslims.

With Martha McSally pulling off a decisive win, Arizona Republicans managed to avoid the disaster that likely would have occurred had either Kelli Ward or Joe Arpaio won last night.

The Vietnam memorial helped heal a gaping wound. What purpose will this one serve?

Seemingly out of nowhere yesterday, the Commander-in-Chief ordered the Pentagon to create a fifth service.

Frank Carlucci, who served as President Reagan’s last Secretary of Defense, has died at 87.

Echoing the Obama Administration, the Trump Administration is arguing that it did not need Congressional authorization to attack Syria earlier this year.

The President and the Secretary of State had some oddly contradictory statements this week.

More signs of tension between President Trump and his Chief of Staff.

President Trump may be looking to push Chief of Staff John Kelly aside by giving him a next to impossible job.

Without Congressional authorization, any attack on Syria would be illegal, but don’t expect Congress to do anything about it.

He cooperated with the FBI. He was arrested by ICE.

The President’s new attempt to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military is as legally defective as the original ban was.

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

With the Administration set to commit the United States to a forever war in Syria, it’s time for Congress to act.

Nearly 200 Members of Congress and the Senate have filed suit against President Trump alleging that he is violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

President Trump’s decision to share highly classified information with the Russians is yet another demonstration of his dangerous hubris and incompetence.

A new Pentagon proposal would place more discretion in the hands of field commanders, removing the need for Presidential approval.

President Obama will leave office as the first two term President who presided over eight years of war. It didn’t start with him and it won’t end with him.

A third major terrorist attack inside of a week.

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.

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.

The investigation continues, but the consensus seems to be growing that Metrojet 9268 was taken out by a bomb.

President Obama came to office inheriting the legacy of one unnecessary war, and another that had faded from memory. He will leave office with Iraq and Syria in crisis, Europe uneasy, Yemen and Libya unstable breeding grounds for terrorism, and China doing whatever it is they’re doing.

President Obama is reportedly considering a plan that would put American forces much closer to the ground war in the war against ISIS.

There must be something odd in the water in the Lone Star State, because a bizarre conspiracy theory seems to have taken root there.

U.S forces in Afghanistan have been involved in missions that go far beyond the counterterror mission the Obama Administration said they would be limited to.

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.