Outside the Beltway

The new Secretary of State is an improvement over the worst Secretary of State in history.

Not surprisingly, Mike Pompeo was confirmed as America’s 70th Secretary of State today. Now, the hard work begins.

An essay from earlier in the year by Jacob T. Levy underscores some of the points I recently tried to make about democratic norms in the current era.

There is no obvious strategy and even the expressed rationale makes no sense.

Even the United Nations has given up trying to maintain an accurate estimate.

As expected, Russia has retaliated for the retaliation against it in connection with the attempted murder of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom.

The United States has joined Great Britain and much of Europe in retaliating against Russia for the attempted murder of a former Russian spy on British soil.

From Europe to the Middle East, to Asia, America’s allies are concerned about what the selection of John Bolton as National Security Adviser means going forward. They should be, and so should every American.

Theresa May has expelled 23 Russian diplomats and convened the North Atlantic Council.

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.

Elliot Cohen laments the lack of steel in the spine of the statesmen, diplomats, soldiers, and thinkers of the current generation.

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

When it comes to foreign policy, Donald Trump has no over-arching philosophy and little knowledge, so don’t expect anything approaching a coherent doctrine from his Administration.

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

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.

Donald Trump is wildly unpopular in the United Kingdom, and that’s apparently causing him to eschew visiting the United States’s most important ally.

President Trump has alienated America’s allies and friends, and they are acting accordingly.

While everyone is paying attention to the government shutdown, the Trump Administration is preparing for a never-ending, unwise, and unauthorized military commitment in Syria.

2017 was quite a year. 2018 promises to be just as interesting.

President Trump returns home from an Asian trip that wasn’t exactly impressive.

America has become involved in conflicts around the world, largely without the knowledge of the American people or the consent of their representatives, and it doesn’t appear that’s going to end anytime soon.

Tensions continue to rise between the White House and Foggy Bottom.

Donald Trump’s increasingly confrontational rhetoric regarding North Korea is leading to similar rhetoric from the DPRK, and concern among top diplomats.

Early on the morning of Sept. 26, 1983, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov helped to prevent the outbreak of nuclear war.

America’s longest war seems likely to soon turn into America’s never-ending war.

In less than a month, voters in the Catalan region of Spain will be voting whether to remain part of Spain or assert independence.

Contrary to reports, Secretary of Defense Mattis is not defying the President on his order to bar transgender Americans from serving in the military.

Based on initial reports, Trump’s Afghanistan policy looks a lot like what we’ve seen for the past sixteen years.

A new report indicates that Trump campaign officials were seeking contact with Russian officials earlier than we thought.

Donald Trump kowtows to Vladimir Putin yet again.

Vice-President Pence is advocating the admission of Georgia into NATO. That would be a bad idea.

Despite campaign promises, President Trump won’t be moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem anytime soon.

Reports indicate that President Trump is preparing to fulfill a campaign promise and withdraw the U.S. from the accord on climate change reached in Paris in 2015.

Donald Trump’s first overseas trip went about as badly as you’d expect it would.

The Trump White House loses ts first major staffer, and more are likely to come.

Donald Trump seems to have an odd habit of sharing highly classified information with questionable people.

A night of carnage and depravity in the United Kingdom.

During the campaign, Donald Trump promised to undo the nuclear weapons deal with Iran. Now his Administration is signaling that, at least for now, the deal will stay in place.

Donald Trump has been President for nearly four months, but has yet to name Ambassadorial picks for many slots including several important posts.

America’s longest war is still going on, and President Trump’s advisers want him to continue his predecessor’s policies of continuing to re-expand American forces in a war that has seemingly no end.

North Korea is threatening another nuclear test, the United States is threatening retaliation, and China is warning of a ‘gathering storm’ on the Korean Peninsula.

It’s been a bad week for U.S.-Russian relations.

The tiny Balkan nation of Montenegro is set to become the latest member of the NATO alliance despite the fact that there is seemingly no good reason for it.

Despite American air strikes, ISIS is expanding its power amid the chaos in Libya.

It may well be that the 25th Amendment, not the impeachment clause, will be his undoing.

More conflicts of interest for the Trump Administration.

My latest is out at RealClearDefense.