Outside the Beltway

The U.S. sends a mostly weak signal to the Egyptian military.

Presidents have gotten away with ignoring Congress when it comes to foreign military adventures for a very long time.

Western military action in the Syrian civil war now appears likely.

Walter Russell Mead explains why a well intentioned, carefully crafted and consistently pursued grand strategy failed.

Does interest in Egypt make the same sense it did 30 years ago?

Al Qaeda may be up to something, so take no chances.

Abu Sufyan al-Azdi, al Qaeda’s number two man in Yemen, is still dead. Or dead again. Or finally dead.

The U.S. is now confirming that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons. What’s next?

Has the West inadvertently handed Iran a victory in Syria?

How would the addition of Susan Rice and Samantha Power to the President’s foreign policy team affect policy toward Syria’s civil war?

Syria’s violence is slipping across it’s borders.That’s not good news at all.

The world oil markets aren’t too far away from being hit by the shock of massively increased demand from China. Somehow, we’ll have to adapt.

We treat violence by lone individuals differently than organized violence. Race, religion, and national origin have nothing to do with that.

A theory on why Benghazi will not die as a political issue.

The notion that guns prevent tyranny is based on fantasy and movies, not reality.

Would a formal guarantee of Israel’s security deter Iran from whatever nuclear weapons development program it has?

Without question, Barack Obama won the foreign policy debate in the 2012 campaign.

The worst elements among the Syrian rebels seem to be the ones getting the arms.

The Administration’s decision to stick with the meme that the Benghazi attack was about a movie becomes more puzzling.

The Romney campaign’s critique of the President’s foreign policy record is weak, and based on bad history.

If the United States and Egypt were Facebook friends, their relationship status would be “It’s Complicated.”

A new IAEA report may make an Israeli strike on Iran in the near future more likely than it has ever been.

While women are more visible at the 2012 Olympics than any past games, there are still cries of “sexism.”

Saudi Arabia’s monarchy has suffered the loss of Crown Prince Nayef, the successor 88-year-old King Abdullah.

Andrew Exum believes the Army should “get rid of all medals not related to valor or campaign-specific service.”

Russia is the most significant geopolitical player actively opposing significant American interests.

The voter ID issue goes on the road.

For years, analysts have worried that Iraq’s tenuous hold on stability would collapse upon the withdrawal of US forces. We’re now watching it happen.

A list of international contingencies to worry about in the coming year. Handy as a stocking stuffer!

There’s a little historical revisionism going on on the right.

What’s the logic behind Iran’s alleged plot to commit terrorist attacks inside the United States?

The Justice Department claims to have disrupted a major Iranian-backed terrorist attack in the United States.

Understanding why your enemy hates you seems to be an important thing, but some people would rather believe in caricatures.