The world welcomes Biden but is hedging its bets.
America: The Unreliable Superpower
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military
Okinawa: Will the Pandemic Transform U.S. Military Bases?
An outbreak of COVID-19 among U.S. service personnel on Okinawa may help anti-base protesters stop construction of the replacement facility at Henoko.
Losing the War on Terror, Winning the War in Washington
It was bloody and brutal, a true generational struggle, but give them credit. In the end, they won when so many lost. James Comey was axed. Sean Spicer went down in a heap of ashes. Anthony Scaramucci crashed and burned instantaneously. Reince Priebus hung on for dear...
America’s Violent Century
John Dower is one the most preeminent historians of World War II’s Pacific theater and the aftermath of the conflict in Asia. His book War Without Mercy (1986) described the racial component of the U.S. campaign against Japan. In Embracing Defeat (1999), he examined...
Obama, Trump, and the Future of U.S. Foreign Policy
Amid all the uncertainty about what a Trump presidency means for the future role of the United States in the world, one possibility is that Trump will embrace some variant of the policies that have been pursued for the past few decades by the nation’s foreign policy...
ISIS and Washington’s War Mongers Need Each Other
Honestly, I don’t know whether to rant or weep, neither of which are usual impulses for me. In the wake of the slaughter in Paris, I have the urge to write one of two sentences here: Paris changed everything; Paris changes nothing. Each is, in its own way, undoubtedly...
Hillary Clinton Hasn’t Learned a Thing from Iraq
As the first Democratic presidential debate drew to a close, moderator Anderson Cooper posed a question to Hillary Clinton: How might her presidency differ from Barack Obama’s? Clinton smiled. “Well, I think it’s pretty obvious,” she replied to rapturous applause....
So Much for China’s Military Reticence
During its ascent to the title of the world’s number-one economy, China has been know for its projecting its rising power through economic means, not military. Also, while it possesses a nuclear weapons arsenal, it’s comparatively small (though to this author, one...
Fatal Encounter: A Transgender Woman Meets the U.S. Marine Corps
This article is a joint publication of Foreign Policy In Focus and TheNation.com. As I peered at Jennifer Laude’s serene face in the open casket, I saw the wound on her forehead that was barely covered concealed by the mortician’s make up. I did not see the bruises...
Emphasis Added: the Week in Pieces (7/1)
From Erdogan to Bradley Manning.