Outside the Beltway

While the nature of Rex Tillerson’s firing as Secretary of State was shocking in its abruptness, taken in context with the rocky nature of his tenure it was hardly surprising.

The British prime minister and outgoing US Secretary of State declared a red line crossed. There’s no reason to think this White House will follow through.

Rex Tillerson was an awful Secretary of State who simply had to go, It’s quite possible his successor will be an even greater disaster.

Nine years later, at least one member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee is admitting what seemed at the time a rather obvious fact.

Next up: Pompeo

By threatening to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran, Donald Trump is making it far less likely that any upcoming talks with North Korea will succeed.

Service members deployed to Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tunisia, and Uganda qualify.

Talking to adversaries is a good idea. Of course, it matters how it is done.

The Russia investigation rolls on with more evidence of questionable conduct on the part of Trump and his team.

In 2017, there were ten Saudis on Forbes’ billionaires list. This year, there are none.

The President suffered a setback in his other job yesterday.

The Kim regime released a statement saying they were open to talks and would not conduct provocative tests while they were ongoing.

The circumstantial case for corruption by Kushner is growing.

After six months, Angela Merkel has apparently succeeded in forming a coalition government.

The latest, and most grave, example of the current tide of right-wing populism can be found in Italy.

Under Nelson Mandela’s leadership, the country made a smooth transition from apartheid. Now it’s going the way of Zimbabwe.

Shots fired: European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker threatens to fight back if President Trump imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum.

I’ve made the sad discovery that longtime friend of the blog John Burgess passed away on February 16, 2016.

John Bolton is leading a cry for preemptive war against North Korea.

Yet more absurdity from Brussels, where regulators seemingly don’t understand how the Internet works.

The President provided a contender for most ignorant tweet this morning, as he makes a proposal that would disrupt the global economy.

President Trump has announced that he’ll be imposing significant tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. This is an unwise decision.

President Trump appeared to change positions on several gun control ideas, but he probably doesn’t mean it.

Few Western democracies have anything quite like our First Amendment. This is a case where the United States gets it right. 

The White House chief of staff has downgraded the President’s son-in-law’s access to classified information. We’ll see how long that lasts.

China’s Xi Jinping solidified his hold on power well into the next decade over the weekend.

Mexico’s President canceled a visit to the United States for the second time since Donald Trump became President due to a continued disagreement over who will pay for Trump’s border wall.

A mass wave of mainland Chinese immigration to Australia has led to discrimination against Taiwanese expats there.

Some thoughts on the biggest Marvel blockbuster yet. [Modest spoilers]

President Trump continues to make irresponsible and dangerous threats in connection with American policy toward North Korea.

President Trump has announced a new round of sanctions against North Korea, but they are unlikely to work given the unrealistic nature of the Administration’s current policy toward North Korea.

Continuing a long-standard tradition, the Trump Administration claims it doesn’t need to get legal authorization to keep American troops in Syria.

Pork barrel politics is complicating Germany’s replacement of its 1970s fighter jet.

A few key observations on the bigger picture.

More security clearance problems for the White House.

Poland’s new Holocaust legislation just keeps sounding worse and worse.

Israeli police have recommended that charges be brought against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Whether that damages him politically remains to be seen.

Why does the U.S. continue to pursue the seemingly impossible goal of denuclearization with regard to North Korea? In part, it’s because we’re still locked into thirty-year-old rhetoric.

More than a year into the Trump Presidency, dozens of White House personnel lack proper security clearances.

As Brexit negotiations go on and the consequences of Britain leaving the European Union become clearer, some Britons are starting to ask for a chance at a second referendum.

A Federal Judge In Kansas has blocked enforcement of a state law barring anyone who does business with the state from engaging in a boycott of Israel.

Last week, the President was calling for national unity. This week, he called political opponents “treasonous.”

The President talked about national unity last night, but given his own rhetoric as a candidate and as a President, it’s a call that seems to be hypocritical.

Once again, President Trump is going soft on Russia. Why? I’ll leave that up to the reader to decide.

International travel to the United States has declined since Donald Trump took office, and it’s having a measurable impact on the economy.

The Trump Administration has acted in a manner to create the impression that there is “no daylight” between the United States and Israel. This is a myth, and pursuing such a goal poses real dangers for America’s national interests.

The recent cooling of relations between North and South Korea has led to some talk of eventual reunification, but for many South Koreans that idea is a non-starter.