Outside the Beltway

The problem has intensified—and spread beyond Ukraine secrets.

Russia is circulating doctored versions of plans for a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

When winning is the only acceptable outcome.

A refreshing instance of normal democratic politics amid interesting times.

Sanctions and a costly war are taking their toll.

The would-be President is floundering as he tries to position himself.

The Russian leader’s status as an international pariah is cemented.

As memory of the Cold War fades, so does support for American primacy.

A wrongheaded if longstanding position.

A brief primer on trauma and a link to an interview and paper on being trauma informed

Alliance leaders have significantly different priorities regarding the conflict.

Many in the Global South see the war very differently than we in the West.

President Biden’s dangerous gambit seems to have succeeded.

Putin is losing but no one is winning.

Old men still bitter about where they went to college.

And this time, we mean it.

Another bill doomed to die.

The state of the union is . . . not good.

The PRC is skirting sanctions to supply a frienemy.

The appetite for more resources approaches infinity.

Playing two-level games.

An object lesson on the challenges of alliance politics.

We’re all gonna die, folks.

Swedish right-wing provocation and Turkish short-sightedness.

The Biden administration is slowly ratcheting up the aid package.

A more dangerous world is changing the relationship.

A controversial artillery round is being used effectively against Russian forces.

The US Government has reluctantly decided to spell an ally’s name they way they prefer.

Russia is humiliated but not defeated. Ukraine is winning but at a very high price.

A 4155-page, $1.65 trillion dollar budget deal has been reached.

A legal but unsavory solution to a problem.

Americans want some new choices.

Prices are coming down but they’re way higher than they were.

A 34-year CIA officer’s thoughts.

A welcome development in a long and bloody war.

Washington has imposed a contract that workers rejected.

James LaPorta is being scapegoated for poor editorial process.

Most don’t even know it passed!

A few stories to consider.

The International Energy Agency forecast is gloomy for Putin and company.

She is the shortest-tenured Prime Minister in British history.

The largest adjustment since the tax code was indexed in 1985.

The collaboration has been even more robust than advertised.

He’s using a tool he denounced as cruel to deal with a humanitarian crisis.

They’re hitting civilian targets partly because they can’t hit military ones.

Putin is committing war crimes in retaliation for an attack on a legitimate military target.

Things are not going well in the special military operation.

The threat is not idle and the options for responding are not good.

Can the unsustainable be sustained?