Outside the Beltway

The ferocity of the global reaction to Putin’s invasion is stunning.

The Russian leader is isolated and under tremendous pressure.

The American President is once again leading the free world.

Pundits like Thomas Friedman struggle with premature prognostication.

Addressing an analytical pet peeve (and, more importantly, correcting a mistake).

Deterring Russia is a matter of principle.

The first shoe has dropped.

The anti-vax-and-other-stuff protest is spreading to Europe.

What if the “fake news” is really fake news?

There’s no keeping politics out of these Games.

The American way of war kills a lot of noncombatants.

The United States and its NATO allies are in a dangerous standoff.

Let’s not start celebrating just yet.

The silly season has commenced a mite early.

A pioneering Black actor is gone at 94.

A former classmate is going to be one of the US military’s most senior leaders.

A roundup of reflection on a somber anniversary.

SLT guests on Peaceful Political Revolution in America to talk American democracy.

The flurry of news around the new variant is dizzying.

Our ostensibly ally is working with our chief adversary against our interests.

The effective number of parties.

Modern and Pfizer are your best bets, but most of the world has had other vaccines.

Counting is not necessarily as straightforward as it may seem.

There are no good options, only bad and worse ones.

Russia’s leader sees the situation in the former Soviet Republic quite differently than the West.

Russia may invade Ukraine again. The United States would prefer otherwise.

Children are starving and it’s partly our fault.

Barbados provides an illustration of a frequently misunderstood concept.

The language is going to iel in a handcart.

Yet another COVID-19 strain has emerged.

A possible murder plot in Colombia embedded into a problematic multi-decade narrative.

The Biden admin is about to take a demilitarized group off the terrorist list and some people aren’t happy about it.

A depressing magazine piece argues it is.

Speaking of elections.

American cheese will henceforth be known as liberté cheese. And not because of the metric system.

A blast from the past.

If it’s made in France, it’s “sparkling wine.”

Humanitarian instincts rightly trumped security concerns.

An unsatisfying first(?) response.

For anyone who might be interested.

We’re not getting Afghans—or even American citizens trapped there—out fast enough.

US health agencies are clashing with the World Health Organization on the question.

The mirage of semi-order faded quickly.

The right questions are: 1) why do some some on the right like him, and 2) should this concern us all?

The collapse is coming even faster than feared.

Hungary is part of a broader global trend, but the real issue isn’t Hungary, it is the Americans who praise Hungary.

Some recent news items that add to concern about American democracy.

The Philippine president is taking a novel approach to the problem.

Our last-ditch airstrikes only postpone the inevitable.