Outside the Beltway

Former Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton Warren Christopher has died

So much for not getting invaded…

There are many opportunities to go to war. Here’s a guide for choosing between them.

Warren Christopher, Bill Clinton’s first Secretary of State, has died at 85.

Who wants that job? (And is willing to work that hard to get it?)

Iran doesn’t like the logo for the London Olympics and is threatening to boycott if it isn’t changed.

Muammar Gadaffi’s family hired big name entertainers for parties. What with the ongoing mayhem in Libya, that’s coming under scrutiny.

The uprisings in the Arab world have led some to suggest that the Middle East isn’t “ready” to be free. They’re wrong.

Is Saudi Arabia the next domino to fall in the Middle East? The Royal family is hoping that money will be enough to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Ronald Reagan would have turned 100 today. Here are some thoughts on his legacy.

If Mubarak is driven from power, will that make Egypt a case of “revolution”?

President Obama’s approval numbers have dropped 9 points since the Egypt crisis broke out.

Is American policy in the Middle East dictated by national interest or interest groups?

While most Americans consider themselves “conservatives,” some conservatives exclude most Americans from the definition.

One Republican Congressman is calling on President Obama to stand firmly behind our “friend” in Cairo, even though there’s little evidence we can trust him.

The GOP is facing a battle between its fiscal conservatism and i’s military adventurism.

Thirty years after the hostages were freed from captivity in Iran, the United States still hasn’t figured out how to deal with the Islamic Republic.

Time for midterms.

Brief takes on foreign affairs

The Stuxnet virus that has set back the Iranian nuclear weapons program by several years at least appears to have originated as a joint project between the United States and Israel.

Moqtada al-Sadr is back in Iraq, and it’s a good thing we’re on our way out.

Andrew Sullivan makes a rather bizarre charge offhandedly: “Who among the neocons would have thought that one of George W. Bush’s final legacies would be bringing pogroms, bombings and genocide to Christians in his new zone of freedom?”

With just over a week to go before the 112th Congress convenes, battle lines are already being drawn in battle over the defense budget.

A capsule look at the world situation as 2010 draws to a close.

Sarah Palin waded into the foreign policy pool today with a piece about Iran, and it was about as empty as most of the other ideas on Iran that we’ve heard over the last six years or so from everyone else.

Is Obama really the most liberal President ever? Not really.

What will Republicans think of a candidate for President who admitted to smoking marijuana as recently as two years ago?

The hunters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and West Virginia alone would comprise the largest army in the world.

According to a new Gallup poll, President Obama is not only less popular than George W. Bush, but the only president from the last half century less popular is Dick Nixon.

The Feds famously got notorious mobster Al Capone on tax evasion charges. Will WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be done in by sex crimes?

After 1 1/2 years in office, President Obama has yet to grant a single request for a pardon or clemency, continuing a thirty year trend in which the Presidential pardon power has nearly fallen in to disuse.

A crippling, and technologically advanced, computer virus and attacks against Iranian nuclear scientists lead to only one conclusion; someone is doing everything they can short of military action to make sure Iran doesn’t develop nuclear weapons.

The two English language newspapers who have been Julian Assange’s accomplices in disseminating stolen secrets defend themselves.

The diplomatic ramifications of the latest Wikileaks leaks are just starting to emerge and may place some countries in very embarrassing positions.

A new round of Wikileaks documents is out, and it opens the door on diplomatic correspondence previously hidden from the public.

NATO-Russia cooperation on missile defense is a welcome step forward.

Conservative Republicans who are typically deferential to the military are ignoring the advice of the military leadership on the new START Treaty.