Outside the Beltway

Saudi Arabia’s new King has shaken up the Royal Family, and that could have interesting results.

Pot, meet kettle.

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.

Chinese analysts are telling their American counterparts that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is far more sophisticated than previously believed.

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

One freshman Senator seems to think that war with Iran would be easy, just like Republicans used to think that war against Iraq would be easy.

America’s longest war continues.

ISIS apparently now has a foothold in Libya, and is making inroads in Yemen.

Daniel Larison is far less ambivalent about our war on ISIL than me.

A big change in an important nation in the most volatile part of the world.

The men responsible for the Charlie Hebdo massacre are dead, but the problems for France, and the rest of Europe, may just be at the beginning.

The shocking has become routine. We’re no safer because of it.

Mission creep.

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.

While the world pays attention to Syria and Iraq, Yemen is once against lurching into chaos.

Iran and the United States are on the same side in the fight against ISIS, whether they like it or not.

The Obama Administration’s legal justification for war against ISIS is laughably flimsy.

The Global War on Terror isn’t over after all.

Political irony, perhaps, but probably less than meets the eye.

And odd report from Washington Post and Stars and Stripes.

Once again, President Obama’s attempt to communicate a foreign policy vision falls short.

Hubris.

President Obama’s new rules for killing Americans with drones are proving inconvenient.

The New York Times Benghazi report raises as many questions as it purports to answer.

.Many have tried to justify N.S.A. data mining on the theory that it could have prevented 9/11. Is that true?

Another Federal District Court ruling on the Constitutionality of the NSA’s data mining program, this time more favorable to the NSA.

Relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia seem to have soured in recent years.

The world changed significantly twelve years ago today. Will it ever change back even a little bit?

Given that the vote count seems to be heading that way, this is a question worth examination.

The president’s public dithering on Syria is drawing jeers from friend and foe alike.

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

Virginia Tech English prof Steven Salaita implores us to “Stop saying ‘support the troops.'”

A headline I never thought I’d see: “Yemen Asks U.S. For Drones To Fight Al Qaeda”

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

A Federal Judge wasn’t very pleased when Administration lawyers told her that she doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit over the President’s drone policy.

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

Outrage over leaks like those that Edward Snowden makes doesn’t exist when its politicians doing the leaking.

The Obama Administration’s aggressive pursuit of leaks is threatening freedom of the press.

Senior DOJ officials from the previous three administrations back the Obama DOJ’s controversial subpoenaing of AP conversations.

Arming the Syrian rebels may do nothing more than prolong a seemingly endless war, and pull the United States into a conflict it shouldn’t be involved in.

One in eight Americans support drone strikes against Americans on American soil.