Outside the Beltway

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

President Obama’s confrontational approach to opponents of the Iran Nuclear Deal ignores legitimate questions.

Rand Paul’s Presidential campaign isn’t going so well at the moment.

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.

If a Russian solider dies, it’s now a secret thanks to a new decree signed by the Russian President.

Disturbing developments on the part of the Ukrainian government.

Iraq seems to becoming a political headache for yet another member of the Bush family.

Far from being a positive, Hillary Clinton’s time as Secretary of State provides ample material for those who would attack her over the next eighteen months.

A series of mini-scandals point to the conflicts of interest around the Clintons.

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.

And the fun part is that his main motive for running appears to be the opportunity to troll Rand Paul.

Rand Paul has changed position on several foreign policy issues, but he doesn’t seem to want to talk about it.

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.

Amateurish? Condescending? Yes. Treasonous? No.

Polling indicates that the American public opposes the GOP position on DHS funding, but that’s unlikely to change many minds on Capitol Hill.

A cease fire deal in Ukraine, but a long term settlement will require compromises from both Moscow and Kiev.

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

Has the legislative branch abdicated its responsibility in US foreign policy?

The news cycle in 2014 seemed to be dominated by a series of real and phony “crises” that grabbed our attention for short periods of time.

Talk about your second- and third-order effects.

For a year that started out with regaining long-lost territory in Ukraine, 2014 is not ending so well for Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Russia’s own government is projecting that its economy will slip into recession next year. How that will impact Putin’s current belligerence remains to be seen.

A new poll finds that a majority of Germans support sanctions against Russia, even if those sanctions end up hurting the German economy.

The CIA has always separated its core spying and analysis functions; that may soon change.

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.

The Ukraine crisis, which never really went away, is back,

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

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

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul continues to challenge Republican orthodoxy on foreign policy, and that’s a good thing.

CNN’s effort to bring back a show that had outlived its prime years ago has, predictably, failed.

Remember the border crisis? Yea, it’s not much of a crisis these days.

Germany’s new defense minister has promised a more robust role but lacks the ability to back her words with action.

While the battle for the Senate remains up in the air, the Republican majority in the House remains secure.

One of these ballots is legit. The others, not so much.

The GOP has bounced back significantly from the lows it experienced after last year’s government shutdown.

A major escalation.

The chattering class is chattering about the President’s vacation again. It really is quite tiresome.

The shooting of Michael Brown is just another example of an ongoing problem.

Dispelling a rising myth,

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

End game? Or the potential spark of a wider war?

Institutional reform does take place in other democracies.