According to a prominent national-security expert, if a clash of cultures is inevitable, U.S. foreign policy must reflect the inherent antagonism.
Using Islamophobia as a Pretext for Withdrawing From Afghanistan
read more
North America
Revisiting the Neutered Medal of Honor Argument
The shift in Congressional Medal of Honor emphasis may reflect a national ambiguity about our wars.
Nuclear Disarmament Would Make U.S. Undisputed Arms Champ
Is overwhelming superiority in conventional weapons the main reason for the apparent interest of the United States in nuclear disarmament?
Sushi Reverses Course: Consuming American Sushi in Tokyo
The nascent American sushi trend brings into relief aspects of Japan-US relations that are seldom articulated in the context of discourse about food – in particular the continued symbolic dominance of the US in Japanese eyes; and it also is emblematic of how Japan engages aspects of globalisation, in this case fetishising a mundane product that has become something new in its reimported form.
Whither the Party Line on Egypt?
Revolutions of world-historic potential, such as we are presently witnessing in Egypt, only happen once in a generation. There is enough awkwardness among the Washington establishment—bewildered at the sight of an uprising against a client state—that they are completely helpless to do much of anything in the face of the tumult on the Egyptian street. But no one is confronting a more awkward comeuppance, and responding to it more erratically, than the neoconservatives.
Republican Calls to Drain the Pentagon Swamp Provide Window for Democrats to Climb Through
Citing canard that moderates are more inclined to respect Republicans on national security matters, libertarians and Grover Norquist call for defense cuts than Democrats.
Why Washington Clings to a Failed Middle-East Strategy
We face the distinct possibility that the U.S. national security bureaucracy will continue to deny the disastrous consequences of our client-regime national-security strategy.
Secret SOTU
I’ve never met President Obama, never been invited to any White House confabs. I’ve never even been able to sit through one of his speeches. But my office is about six blocks away from the White House. So, like any good Washington pundit who imagines that proximity translates into perceptiveness, I feel entirely qualified to look into the president’s eyes to get a sense of his soul. Here’s what I believe President Obama will be thinking as he reads off the teleprompter.
Operation Desert Storm: Our Last “Clean” War
January 21 marked the 20th anniversary of the start of the Gulf War.
Does the Taboo Against the Use of Nuclear Weapons Only Increase Their Allure?
Realism and ethics converge in the belief that nuclear weapon use is unthinkable.