Outside the Beltway

Even before the Russian curve ball, the public opposition to military strikes on Syria was mounting.

“No More Baby Steps,” my first piece for Defense News, has posted.

Why are chemical weapons a “red line” in a war where so many have been killed?

Bombing Country B to “send a message” to Country A is not a valid argument for bombing Country B.

Not surprisingly, Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle are lining up behind the President in the debate over Syria.

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

Will Congress now take some responsibilty?

Some questions that the Administration needs to answer before attacking Syria.

Humanitarian wars have their own grammar but not their own logic.

An Example of How Institutions Matter.

Persuasion is sometimes an important part of being president.

The White House confirmed today that the goal of any military intervention in Syria would be very limited. Which makes one wonder what the point of doing anything actually is.

There’s more than one way to look at the civil war in Syria.

We’re almost certainly going to launch punitive strikes against Syria. They’ll almost certainly be ineffective.

John Kerry’s speech was the crossing of the Rubicon for US military action in Syria.

Western military action in the Syrian civil war now appears likely.

In both Egypt and Syria, it’s damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

As President Obama’s red line has been crossed more brazenly, he continues to sound reluctant to intervene in Syria while positioning forces to do just that.

Walter Russell Mead explains why a well intentioned, carefully crafted and consistently pursued grand strategy failed.

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

Andrew Bacevich argues, persuasively, that “absence of leverage does not preclude options” with respect to Egypt.

Does interest in Egypt make the same sense it did 30 years ago?

The Obama administration has issued a strongly worded statement on this morning’s massacre by the Egyptian government.

Hundreds are dead as Egypt’s military government crack down on supporters of the democratically elected government they ousted.

Some conservatives don’t seem too troubled by Vladimir Putin’s repression.

Bill Clark, who served as National Security Advisor and Interior Secretary under Ronald Reagan, has died at 81.

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

Anti-Assad forces are committing atrocities in Aleppo.