Outside the Beltway

A proportional response.

We may be seeing the beginning of the end.

President Erdogan is playing a dangerous game.

It’s been one year since Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, never to be seen in public again. We are no closer to justice in his case than we were a year ago.

As the Saudis continue to evaluate the impact of the weekend attack on a major oil facility, the Trump Administration tones down the anti-Iran rhetoric just a bit.

While the world continues to evaluate the impact of Saturday’s attack on a Saudi oil facility, tensions in the Persian Gulf are increasing.

Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed responsibility for a massive attack on an important Saudi oil facility.

The Trump Administration unveiled new sanctions against Iran yesterday. They’re unlikely to accomplish the entirely unrealistic goals the President claims to have in mind.

As if the situation in the Persian Gulf weren’t already tense enough, the Iranians shot down an American reconnaissance drone late yesterday

A misleading, annoying media trope that needs to go away.

As the shutdown enters day thirty-five, there are some signs of movement in Washington but no real progress.

The Senate rejected Republican and Democratic proposals as expected but there are some signs of movement forward.

Despite their rhetoric, Republicans in Congress have shown through their own inaction that they don’t really support the President’s border wall.

Is it possible that the solution to the government shutdown is letting the President pretend he got funding for his border wall even though he didn’t?

Venezuela has arrested two military officers in connection with the alleged assassination attempt on President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro survived an apparent, albeit amateurish, assassination attempt yesterday in what could be a sign of underlying instability in Venezuela.

Echoing the Obama Administration, the Trump Administration is arguing that it did not need Congressional authorization to attack Syria earlier this year.

President Trump continues his unhinged, and unsupported by facts, war on Amazon and its owner Jeff Bezos by pressuring an independent agency to raise shipping rates.

The Postal Service is losing billions of dollars, but not for the reasons the President claims.

Without Congressional authorization, any attack on Syria would be illegal, but don’t expect Congress to do anything about it.

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

A few key observations on the bigger picture.

A bipartisan group of Senators has proposed a largely reasonable fix to the DACA problem, but its fate remains unclear.

Congress seems no closer to a DACA deal than they were in January.

With the Administration set to commit the United States to a forever war in Syria, it’s time for Congress to act.

The Dallas shooting spree ended with police killing the perpetrator with a drone. I’m okay with that.

Donald Trump has insinuated that President Obama is not fighting the War On Terror aggressively because he somehow identifies with terrorists.

The U.S. is poised to send troops to the front lines of yet another war we have no reason to be involved in.

It’s been suggested that subjecting women to a possible draft would make leaders less likely to go to war. Unfortunately, there’s no reason to believe this is true.

The U.S. and Russia have reached a much-needed deal to avoid inadvertent confrontations over the skies of Syria.

The plan to withdraw nearly all American forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 is being put on hold.

President Obama is reportedly considering a plan that would keep up to 5,000 American troops in Afghanistan past the withdrawal date he had already set.

President Obama’s confrontational approach to opponents of the Iran Nuclear Deal ignores legitimate questions.

Lindsey Graham says that, if elected president, he would summarily kill anyone thinking about joining ISIS.

Marco Rubio is often described as one of the GOP’s leaders on foreign policy, but a close look reveals a decided lack of substance.

Most in the international relations community are not amused by the president’s National Security Strategy.

For a year that started out with regaining long-lost territory in Ukraine, 2014 is not ending so well for Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

The shocking has become routine. We’re no safer because of it.

You thought the American combat role in Afghanistan would end on December 31st? Think again.

The CIA has always separated its core spying and analysis functions; that may soon change.

The Burning Man Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

The war against ISIS continues to silently escalate, with little input from the people’s representatives in Congress.

President Obama has opened a new front in his “war” against ISIS

Dan Froomkin says Obama is as bad as Bush, if not worse.

Things are getting serious in eastern Ukraine.

The evidence is clear. When it comes to the ability to handle foreign crises, the President has lost the public’s confidence.