Outside the Beltway

Pakistan is trying to explain how the world’s most wanted man was able to hide in plain sight for six years, and failing badly.

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.

The Toomer’s Corner trees were poisoned by a rabid Alabama fan.

Time for midterms.

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.

Should we limit the number of rounds guns can hold in order to minimize shooting sprees?

Now that the US has ratified New Start, it’s Russia’s turn.

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.

Unless you paid close attention, you probably missed most of the coverage of the war in Afghanistan in 2010.

The 20th Amendment was supposed to eliminate lame duck sessions, but it didn’t.

One of the most active American diplomats of the past twenty-five years has passed away.

The latest wrong of documents from Wikileaks show that American diplomats are as worried about Pakistan as the rest of us, and not quite sure how to deal with the situation.

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 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.

What sort of response is required to Pyongyang’s ratcheting up of tensions on the Korean Peninsula?

North Korea has unveiled to the world a new nuclear processing facility that puts back on the table the question of just what we should, or can, do about the fact that a rogue state possesses nuclear weapons and wants to build more.

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.

Theodore Sorensen, a speechwriter and close adviser to President John F. Kennedy, died today at the age of 82

World Politics Review has published a special issue on “NATO’s Identity Crisis” ahead of next month’s Lisbon summit and the unveiling of a new Strategic Concept. I contributed the lead essay, “NATO in an Age of Austerity.”

Venezuela have reached a series of agreement on energy. Should the US be concerned?

If it’s September, it must be time for Mahmoud Ahmadinjad to stand up before the United Nations General Assembly and say something completely insane.

According to a new book from Bob Woorward, American policy in Afghanistan is the result of a decision making process that can only be described as chaotic at best.

Ted Koppel thinks our actions since 9/11 have helped Osama bin Laden fulfill his goals. He couldn’t be more wrong.

Will Israel attack Iran ? You’d better hope not.

Civilian control of the military means, oddly, that civilians control the military. And it means precisely that the military does not get to decide which civilians run the country.

More odd developments inside the modern day version of the Hermit Kingdom

The United States has promised $150 million in aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan. Should we have?

The New York Times is reporting that the Obama Administration has convinced Israel that Iran is much further away from developing nuclear weapons than Tel Aviv fears, but there seems to be something else going on here.

Every new report out of Iran seems to bring us closer to the moment when Israel has decided it’s heard enough. What happens if that day actually happens ?

NATO should resist preemptively declaring cyber attacks “an attack on all” members under Article 5.

If people feel the need to evoke Reagan, it would be nice if they would evoke the real one, rather than an alt reality version.

South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham sees the beginning of the end of the Tea Parties, and he’s probably right.