Outside the Beltway

It’s not been a great few days for J. D. Vance

While foreign policy seldom decides American elections, it really should this year.

The fine line between xenophobia and patriotism.

The world’s largest democracy just became more democratic.

It’s a problematic concept.

Most of the biggest countries in the world have birth rates below replacement level.

A small, conscript-driven military has very different training and doctrine than ours.

A shocking development amidst regional turmoil.

It’s more than competition but less than war.

Are we avoiding facing hard truths?

He’s ratcheted up what Trump started but also shifted focus.

Yesterday’s New Jersey speech was something to behold.

An interesting analysis by The Economist.

The United States has less press freedom than 54 countries. Or does it?

A minor gaffe is overshadowing a more complicated story.

Several glimmers of hope from the Ukraine funding bill.

The Western sphere widens.

The courts would likely allow restricting a Chinese data mining operation popular with American teenagers.

While the West dithers, Russia is doubling down.

Some of these have been piling up for a while.

He’s suddenly a billionaire after all.

A long overdue strengthening of a key alliance.

A long-predicted threat has emerged.

A scholarly treatise argues it is not.

A well-intentioned but likely doomed effort.

The politics of chaos.

The food is too damn high!

Fighting a cult of personality is exhausting.

Ezra Klein makes a compelling case.

The White House is doing damage control.

Stories I’m reading but unlikely to write about.

Cost cutting and the decline of venerable brands.

They don’t make ’em like they used to.

Trump and Trump-adjacent stories for this round of Tabs.

The BBC’s security correspondent thinks so.

Those seeking to escape the global south are facing resistance from DC to London to Paris.

The most important and controversial American diplomat of the postwar era is gone at 100.

His critics are focused on the wrong problem.

The war in Israel is in danger of expanding.

An increasingly undemocratic regional power is a necessary but unreliable partner.

Germany’s economy is among the worst in the OECD.

It turns out, he wasn’t all that truthful.

Jonathan Turley’s defense of the impeachment inquiry is not impressive.

Hasan Minhaj is a serial liar. Does it matter?

The trend shows no sign of abating.

His message isn’t getting through. Is it the messenger?

Its economic bubble has burst, which may make them more dangerous.

Our pacing threat is hiring military veterans with special skills.

There’s no end in sight to an absurd standoff.

Vivek Ramaswamy’s national coming out party was, well, interesting.