Outside the Beltway

Well, that de-escalated quickly.

A 34-year CIA officer’s thoughts.

Can the unsustainable be sustained?

The ayatollahs face the biggest challenge to their authority in the history of the regime.

Foreign policy makes strange bedfellows.

Whether deliberate or another ‘gaffe,’ he’s likely right.

World opinion has shifted even more against Russia. Will it matter?

The President commits a Kinsley gaffe.

It’s hard to see how this crisis ends.

Addressing an analytical pet peeve (and, more importantly, correcting a mistake).

A depressing magazine piece argues it is.

A blast from the past.

He was both the youngest and oldest man to run the Pentagon.

Multiple indicators point to a decline in the representativeness of the American system.

The Russians are at it again, with the cooperation of the Trump administration and its enablers.

How to translate understandable frustration at injustice into tangible reform?

The chief diplomat of the United States isn’t very diplomatic (nor informative).

WIth North Korea’s end of the year deadline for progress on talks quickly approaching, it is clear that the Trump Administration’s policies with regard to the DPRK have failed.

Elizabeth Warren took most of the fire during last night’s fourth Democratic debate, which will likely go a long way toward winnowing down a crowded field.

President Trump took to Twitter late this morning to fire his third National Security Adviser.

A former Federal Reserve officials argues that the Fed should not lower interest rates to compensate for the impact of the President’s trade war, potentially leading to his defeat in the election. This is an incredibly bad idea.

The Trump Administration has effectively declared economic warfare against the government of Nicolas Maduro. It won’t succeed, and will further victimize the already suffering Venezuelan people.

Every offseason re-aligns the sport in fascinating ways.

The Trump Administration unveiled new sanctions against Iran yesterday. They’re unlikely to accomplish the entirely unrealistic goals the President claims to have in mind.

This time on Venezuela

His colum in WaPo isn’t very good.

President Trump’s foreign policy has largely been a failure, and there are specific reasons why.

While he campaigned on a message of restraint, Donald Trump has largely adopted the interventionist foreign policies of his predecessors.

The ongoing apparent attempted coup in Venezuela is already leading to talk of American intervention in the event of a crackdown. That would be unwise and unjustified.

The Trump Administration’s policies toward Iran aren’t going to work, but that’s because they aren’t supposed to work.

Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld is preparing for a primary challenge against Donald Trump. He won’t win, but he could still have an impact.

The President’s second State of the Union began and ended with calls for unity. In between, it was filled with the divisive partisanship that has marked his Presidency.

The President is an ignoramus and a blowhard and a petulant child but he’s operating within the Constitutional limits of his office.

The situation in Venezuela entered a new stage yesterday as opposition leader Juan Guaidó claimed the nation’s Presidency.

Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is the latest Democrat to throw their hat into the Presidential ring.

The fact that American officials talked with Venezuelans plotting a coup against the government of their country is a dangerous turn of events.

The Trump Administration has taken the latest step in a process that began in May with the withdrawal from the JCPOA. Where it takes us is anybody’s guess, but the probability of something going wrong is quite high.

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

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.

Does the administration know what it is doing?

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

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

From Europe to the Middle East, to Asia, America’s allies are concerned about what the selection of John Bolton as National Security Adviser means going forward. They should be, and so should every American.

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

The apparent assassination of Kim Jong-Un’s eldest brother has raised red flags in China.

A controversial member of George W. Bush’s foreign policy team is up for a post in Donald Trump’s State Department.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is speaking out against several of President-Elect Trump’s proposed Cabinet nominees.

Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Gary Johnson doesn’t get much national press attention, and it doesn’t help when he flubs an answer like he did this morning.

If you were looking for evidence that the race for the Democratic nomination is basically over, you need look no further than last night’s Democratic Debate.