Team Biden: Diplomatic and Strategic Failure

If personnel is policy then it appears that the Biden administration is committed to a pursuit of a hard-line (and counterproductive) policy with both Russia and China. Biden has staffed his national security team with individuals who are known for hard-line views.

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Obama and the Search for Audacity

Obama needed to pay more attention to Ronald Reagan’s dictum that “personnel is policy.” Instead of appointing serious managers of national security policy who could think outside the box—perhaps audaciously—he filled his national security team with tired veterans of Cold War thinking.

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Recent News and Latest Book

The NYT’s Proclaims Israel’s Military Has Reclaimed Its “Stature”

Several days after the Washington Post bogusly declared that Israel has recovered the “military primacy” that it lost a year ago, the New York Times goes one step further.  It obscenely proclaims that the Israeli military has regained its “stature.”  We’re are talking about a sophisticated and lethal military force that has been facing Arab adversaries who lack air power and air defense for the past 57 years. 

Netanyahu’s Dangerous Militarism

Greater use of Israeli military power has not provided Israel with greater security over the years, and there is no reason to believe that any retaliation—other than a symbolic response similar to the April attack—would end the current cycle of permanent occupation.  Israeli analysts continue to speak of “escalate to deescalate,” “escalation dominance,” and “restoration of deterrence,” but Israel’s “targeted assassinations,” the violence of settlers on the West Bank, and the genocidal campaign in Gaza will never serve any long-term strategic purpose. 

Containing the National Security State

Containing the National Security State