Outside the Beltway

On Wednesday, much of official Washington, and likely a good part of the country itself, will pause to watch what are likely to biggest hearings since the late 1980s.

Tensions are increasing in the Persian Gulf thanks to a collection of actions by Iran, the United States, and United Kingdom.

The House of Representatives passed a defense spending bill that seeks to limit Presidential authority when it comes to striking Iran and aideing the Saudi war on Yemen.

Joe Biden delivered his first major foreign policy address of the campaign. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than what we have right now.

Delay of game.

After a year of fighting, the Administration has given up on its effort to get a citizenship question on the 2020 Census.

The independent who upended the 1992 Presidential race has passed.

Iran announced that it was exceeding another limitation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, upping the already tense situation in the Persian Gulf

In memos to his superiors, the British Ambassador to the United States had an exceedingly frank, and negative, assessment of the current occupant of the White House.

Just over a year after the United States repudiated the JCPOA, Iran has surpassed a limit on uranium enrichment set by the JCPOA

Realistically, President Trump has very few options when it comes to dealing with Iran and its nuclear program.

Is the United States finally ready to give up on the fantasy that North Korea will surrender its nuclear weapons?

The Kaine-Udall amendment has met its predictable end.

Robert Mueller has agreed to testify before Congress in public. Testimony that is likely to be the big story of the summer.

The Pentagon has been headed by Acting Secretaries for an unprecedented period. Does it really matter?

Eight months later, the President and his Administration continue to refuse to acknowledge the truth about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

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.

A possible way forward?

With hours to go before they were set to start. the President delayed the mass deportation raids that were supposed to begin this morning.

The latest is about deportations

Trump and Iran.

Just days after being named the next Acting Secretary of Defense, the President is appointing Mark Esper to be full Secretary of Defense.

Much to the chagrin of Republicans hoping to win back a Senate seat they never should have lost, Roy Moore is running for Senate again in Alabama.

The fight to determine the leader of the Conservative Party, and the next British Prime Minister, is down to two candidates, but there’s one clear favorite.

The planes were apparently in the air, and the ships in position, for an American attack on Iran last night. Then the order to pull back came in.

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

Democrats are trying to rein in President Trump. It won’t work.

As Conservative MP’s continue winnowing down the list of candidates for party leader, Boris Johnson remains the overwhelming leader. However, a surprise challenger may be on his heels.

Patrick Shanahan is out as nominee to be Secretary of Defense after questions were raised during his background investigation.

As we head toward a potential crisis in the Persian Gulf, the consequences of the President’s lies are coming home to roost.

Tensions are increasing in the Persian Gulf as the Iran war hawks seem to be winning the battle for the President’s support.

A new report in The New York Times raises both national security and Constitutional concerns.

Bret Stephens (and others) are overreacting.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg laid out his foreign policy platform in a speech this week. It’s certainly an improvement over the current President.

This time on Venezuela

Expanding on events that have been going on for months, two oil tankers were attacked today near the entrance to the Persian Gulf

The tree that President Trump and French President Macron planted last year has died.

While the American media was paying attention to President travels and travails in Europe, there was another meeting taking place.

Donald Trump has betrayed the legacy and the sacrifices of the soldiers who fought their way onto the beaches of Normandy.

Jared Kushner’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan is still awaiting release, but it already appears to be dead on arrival.

His colum in WaPo isn’t very good.

Do you want to get money out of politics? You need to get politics out of money.

President Trump is in Japan, and while there is is dismissing the seriousness of new North Korean missile tests that threaten Japan.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been indicted on seventeen counts under the Espionage Act arising out of his role in the Chelsea Manning affair.

Some 2020 Democratic hopefuls are turning to a surprising source for counsel.

Taiwan has become the first nation in Asia to legally recognize same-sex marriage.

The White House claims to want to talk to Iran but the President’s actions make clear that negotiation is the furthest thing from his mind.

President Trump’s foreign policy has largely been a failure, and there are specific reasons why.

While he campaigned on a message of restraint, Donald Trump has largely adopted the interventionist foreign policies of his predecessors.

The Trump Administration is taking an unnecessarily militaristic approach toward Iran, and that poses real dangers for the country and for the Middle East.