Posts Tagged ‘national security’
The Biden National Security Team Must Get Smarter…Sooner
The conventional wisdom at the tragic first year mark of the Russian-Ukrainian War is that President Joe Biden and his national security team have done an excellent job of managing support for Ukraine and challenging Russia’s invasion. The New Yorker’s editor, David Remnick, an excellent Kremlinologist, summed it up this way in the current issue: “Biden…
Read MoreBiden’s Obsession With China
The report that was released two weeks ago is a predictably superficial rendering of U.S. plans for global cooperation, but contains no original ideas for the U.S. role in doing so. There is nothing in the report that suggests the Biden administration has any ideas for reversing the downturn in relations with China—our most important bilateral relationship—which points to increased bilateral tensions and greater defense spending. There is no indication that we have learned important lessons from the isolationist step of withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the militaristic policies in the Middle East and Southwest Asia that depend on use of force.
Read MoreThe Dangerous Civilian-Military Chasm In America
One of the greatest weaknesses of presidential leadership over the past 60 years has been the lack of presidential experience in the military and the inability to control the military. Several weeks before his seminal Farewell Address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower told his senior advisers in the White House, “God help this country when someone sits in this chair who doesn’t know the military as well as I do.” His successors have been deferential to the military and too many of them have used military force to bolster their credentials. This has been a major factor in the expanded power of the military establishment.
Read MoreBiden and the Tragedy of US Foreign Policy
Not since the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower has the United States elected a chief executive with formidable experience in international security policy. President Biden has decades of foreign policy experience in the White House and the Senate, which is extremely unusual in American presidential politics. Therefore, he should be held to a high standard; thus far, his performance has been flawed.
Read MoreRecent News and Latest Book
The Years 1968 And 2024: Will History Repeat Itself?
n 1968, the Vietnam War was the decisive moral issue of the time. In 2024, Israel’s genocidal warfare in Gaza is the decisive moral issue. The likelihood of an ugly Israeli military campaign in southern Gaza will lead to additional Palestinian deaths and to increased fury at home and abroad.
