Outside the Beltway

While the United States has some serious problems with policing, we’re not a police state.

My first piece for the Christian Science Monitor, co-authored with my Atlantic Council collegue Barry Pavel, has been posted.

Does the Romney campaign know the USSR doesn’t exist anymore? Of course they do, but the language they use still means something.

My latest for The National Interest, “Turkey Cries Wolf,” has been posted.

A bill that may become law in Arizona could make your Internet comments a crime.

Mitt Romney called Russia our “number one geopolitical foe.” Is he right?

An attack on Iran is likely to unleash consequences that we are unprepared to deal with.

Russia may be getting more involved in the Syrian conflict.

There will be no more GOP candidate debates. That’s not necessarily a good thing.

The cause of the pain you’re feeling at the pump has little to do with domestic energy policy.

Arizona’s senior Senator want’s to bomb Syria.

Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times and Remi Ochlik of Reuters have become the latest journalists to die reporting on the massacres in Syria.

Yet another sign that international intervention in Syria is most likely never going to happen.

China’s government may be more “efficient,” but it’s hardly a model for the rest of the world.

We can feel that we “know” athletes, entertainers, politicians, and others that we’ve followed, rooted for, or whatnot over a period of time and feel a genuine sense of loss when they’re gone.

Andrew Exum notes that most analysts who call for military intervention fail to specify the particulars.

Censorship or sound business practice?

We, as a country, need to remember that do not hold levers that allow us to move events this way or that

Rick Santorum’s foreign policy positions are troubling in many respects.

So, what’s next?

For years, analysts have worried that Iraq’s tenuous hold on stability would collapse upon the withdrawal of US forces. We’re now watching it happen.

How can we know what happens next in North Korea when we didn’t even know Kim Jong-il had died?

Time Magazine has chosen “The Protester” as its Person Of The Year. Let the outrage ensue.

Conservative groups are upset because a new reality show depicts Muslim-Americans as, well, normal Americans.

Newt Gingrich’s comments about Palestinian nationhood came up during last night’s debate.

Once again, Newt Gingrich speaks without thinking.

Just a reminder: Turkey is a NATO ally.

I’ll be liveblogging tonight’s Republican national security debate over at RealClearWorld along with a solid team of foreign policy analyst

Rick Perry wants a no-fly zone in Syria to prevent ground forces from harming civilians.

We’re running out of excuses.

An attack against Iran’s nuclear weapons research facility won’t be an easy thing.

President Obama is being attacking from the right for following through on a policy decision made by his Republican predecessor.

Obama is trying to get into Guinness under “US President with Most Simultaneous Wars”

President Obama explained his position on the Palestinian statehood resolution today, but one wonders if anyone listened.

For a peace envoy, Blair has some nonpeaceful ideas.

What does the apparent outcome of the war in Libya mean for the so-called “Responsibility To Protect” doctrine?