US Foreign Policy

Biden’s New Mideast: In Nadir of US-Saudi Relations, release planned of CIA report Accusing Crown prince of Murder

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden administration will release a Central Intelligence Agency report concluding that crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, 35, of Saudi Arabia, masterminded the assassination on October 2, 2018, of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. I’m not sure even an old foreign policy hand like President Biden understands how explosive this […]

Donald Trump

The Claudius Presidency

John Feffer

(Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Caligula was by all accounts a nasty piece of work. During the nearly four years that he ruled over the Roman empire in the first century CE, Caligula was notorious for sexual predation and extravagant spending. Never one to sell himself short, he proclaimed early on that he was […]

US Foreign Policy

‘An Obstructive Body’ and ‘menace to liberties’: How the U.S. Senate is a Global Problem

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The acquittal of Trump was bad, but the Senate’s approach to foreign affairs over the years has been even worse. By John Feffer | February 17, 2021 Watching the Senate conduct the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump brought back a flood of memories from high school. I distinctly […]

Featured

Top 5 Reasons for Biden to snub Israel’s Netanyahu, whom he still hasn’t Called

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Danny Danon, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, impatiently tweeted a list of all the foreign leaders that President Joe Biden has already called in his one month in office, and suggesting it was time he called Binyamin Netanyahu. Biden is close to the Israel lobbies and had been […]

Donald Trump

America, the Fickle Superpower: World Welcomes Biden, but fears more Trumps

John Feffer

( Tomdispatch.com ) – The nightmare is over. The vanquished beast has crawled back to Mar-a-Lago to lick his wounds. The heroes are hard at work repairing the damage. As America returns to the international stage, the world heaves a collective sigh of relief. That, at least, is the story the incoming Biden administration is […]

China

Biden’s Top Foreign Policy Challenge: Avoiding a Cold War with China

Conn M. Hallinan

Taiwan and the South China Sea are the likeliest points of conflict — but conflict is not an option. ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – President Joe Biden’s administration faces a host of difficult problems, but in foreign policy its thorniest will be its relations with the People’s Republic of China. How the new administration […]

Iran

Washington and Tehran: Who will make the first move?

Oraib AlRantawi

( Middle East Monitor) – From the outside, the heated debate between Tehran and Washington seems as though it could be summarised by the question: Which side will make the first move? Tehran wants Washington, which was responsible for violating its obligations and inflicting heavy losses on Iran, to start by lifting all additional sanctions […]

Joe Biden

Joe Biden’s Peace Force? A Multipoint Plan to End War as We Know It

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com ) – When it comes to war, if personnel is policy, America is yet again in deep trouble. As retired Army Major Danny Sjursen recently pointed out at TomDispatch, when it comes to foreign policy, President Joe Biden’s new cabinet and advisers are well stocked with retired generals, reconstituted neocons, unapologetic hawks, and […]

Houthi

Ending the crisis in Yemen is a priority for Biden administration

Brian Whitaker

( Al-Bab.com) – Secretary of State Blinken: “It’s vitally important that we do everything we can to get humanitarian assistance to the people of Yemen.” Photo: State Dept When Antony Blinken, the newly-appointed US Secretary of State, gave his first press briefing last Wednesday the first topic to come up was the war in Yemen. […]