The West’s Dangerous Gambit in Ukraine
Western meddling helped spark the last Ukraine crisis, and foreign policy elites have learned little since then.
Rethinking U.S. Strategy in the Wider Middle East
A civilizational analysis of Islam as a socio-political force that either constrains or enables violence against the United States will be needed to supplement this traditional U.S. strategy.
The ‘Liberal International Order’ Is Neither Universal nor Exceptional
If the international order is “rules-based,” it is because Washington has set the rules.
Bill Gates and Ersatz Virtue
Why help people near you when you can help people far, far away? Be kind to your wife who is standing right in front of you? No, that is too hard. Instead, write a check and send it to sub-Saharan Africa.
Afghanistan: The U.S. Can Always Go Back
Punitive expeditions offer a middle course: brief, high-intensity campaigns to punish sponsors of terrorism and deter others.
The American Mess in the Ukraine
There is great irony in Biden administration officials trying to get ahead of a potential crisis that was largely caused by Biden’s nominee for undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland.
Why Diplomacy Has Not Returned
American elites have come to believe themselves as humanitarians without peer on the world stage. Pushy hectoring of other nations is a common feature of American “diplomacy.”
Aristotle and Our American Oligarchy
Oligarchy brings great dangers. In Book V of Politics, Aristotle warns that oligarchies are very unstable forms of government.
No Substitute for Strategy: What’s Wrong with “Defending Forward”
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies' latest report promises a restoration of the worst foreign policy ideas since the end of the Cold War. It should be ignored.
The Fifth Annual All-Volunteer Force Forum
CSS and William & Mary present a discussion of "Endless Wars and America’s All-Volunteer Force."
Biden Should Stick to Afghanistan Withdrawal Timetable
The Biden administration has a golden opportunity to conclude U.S. participation in the Afghan civil war.
The Erosion of America’s Professional Officer Corps
As with the now-discarded tradition that former presidents should generally avoid partisan politics, it is now clear that a certain professional culture that had previously been embraced by military leaders is also breaking down.
So Much for Diplomacy
There is an inherent contradiction in the hubristic assertion that the United States is the world’s chief protector of universal values and the belief that this mighty and virtuous emperor will take seriously the opinions of other nations.
When ‘Human Rights’ Become a Menace
Grandiose gestures to “protect human rights” can sometimes result in wholesale violations of human rights, as our actions in Iraq, Libya, and Syria have all demonstrated.
‘The Battle of the Classics’ Reviewed
The only battlefield upon which the humanities can be successfully defended is the constant human struggle to improve character.
NATO’s New Purpose: An Alliance Reborn to Take on China?
Instead of dragging Europe into a competition with China, NATO would best serve all of its members by maintaining a laser focus on the security threats facing Europe.
What Will a Biden Administration Do? Ask Rousseau
Secular humanitarians do not believe that the most important goal in life is to set oneself right; they believe the goal of life is to set the world right.
How a ‘Rapid Withdrawal’ from Afghanistan is Logistically Possible
The wisdom of an immediate and complete withdrawal from Afghanistan is debatable. But the feasibility of a total pullout is not.
The Foreign Policy Choice This November
Whether possessing four or 40 years of foreign policy experience, neither septuagenarian is apt to reorient America’s role in the world, regardless of what the voters want.
U.S. Foreign Policy: Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
U.S. foreign policy is in need of serious reappraisal and reform. The State Department is a good place for the next administration to start.
Defund CENTCOM
Put CENTCOM out of its misery and spend that money on higher priorities with better likelihoods of success.
How Empire is Destroying the American Republic
Hawks show a decidedly noticeable failure to recognize that imperial adventures weaken republican government at home.
The Case for Withdrawing from the Middle East
U.S. interests in the Middle East do not require stationing American troops in the region. Moreover, the ideas justifying a permanent troop presence there have been wrong for decades.
The Truth About the War on Terror
What McMaster is asserting is that the war did nothing. Things are worse than ever.
How ‘Diversity’ Became Its Own Pagan Religion
Those who invoke it refuse to acknowledge any common human ground, a challenge to Christianity itself.
Why the Blob Needs an Enemy
Reforming and rehabilitating the U.S. foreign policy establishment will require more than policy prescriptions and comprehensive reports: it needs generational change.
Stationing US Troops in Poland Is a Bad Idea
When it comes to defending Europe from the supposed Russian threat, most NATO members, to quote Dick Cheney on serving in the Vietnam War, have "other priorities."
Kipling: Poet Laureate of Soldiers, Sailors, and Colonizers
Poet laureate of soldiers, sailors, and colonizers, Rudyard Kipling would not appear well suited to the 2020s.
Grading Trump’s Foreign Policy
"Ending endless wars” has thus far amounted to little more than an applause line for the credulous and the craven.
Resist the Siren Song of Big Tech ‘National Champions’
To paraphrase Samuel Johnson's famous take on patriotism: The China defense may be the last refuge of the Big Tech scoundrel.
Conservatives Missed the Boat on the Power of Culture
Movement conservatives never quite understood the centrality of what lies outside of politics.
Towards a Catholic Foreign Policy
Just war doctrine is more than a legalistic checklist. Intemperance in the soul, not incorrect reasoning, is the true origin of unjust wars.
Definitions, Please!
What may seem to political practitioners to be hair-splitting philosophical distinctions can have enormous practical significance.
Democracy Promotion Abroad, Breakdown at Home
How can we continue to tell other nations what to do when our own democracy is suffering from mediocrity and decay?
The Clear Flaws in Trump’s Mount Rushmore Speech
When it comes to American Exceptionalism, the "Great Disruptor" is defaulting to the same old same old.
American Foreign Policy and the Failure of Reason
Proponents of American hegemony simply do not wish to be persuaded by facts and arguments. The only remedy is of course to go upstream.
The Republican War over Germany
The United States is witnessing exploding debts and deficits. The United States is broke, while Germany is not.
Jeane J. Kirkpatrick: 30 Years Unheeded
The foreign policy establishment gives something like pariah status to people like Kirkpatrick who subject American foreign policy to popular preferences.
No One Has a Clue What to Do About China
Clear-eyed focus on China as the most important issue for American statesmen is both essential and foreclosed by bureaucratic and domestic politics.
Time to Break up the FBI?
They see themselves as guardians of the American Way, intervening whenever and wherever they see democracy in danger. No healthy republic should have a national police force with this kind of culture.
Forthcoming Book: “The Historical Mind: Humanistic Renewal in a Post-Constitutional Age”
Timely and provocative assessment of various cultural, moral, and political problems in “post-constitutional” America.
What Is the US Navy Doing in the Persian Gulf?
Why do we continue to deploy huge military assets to the Gulf? If you read the statements of US policymakers carefully, you realize that the mission is an imperial one.
All is Not What it Seems in Sweden
Contrary to impressions created in American media, the country's approach to the pandemic has not been so 'relaxed.'
The Blob Sucked Away Your Public Health and Gave You War Instead
Trillions down the drain for overseas operations and the national security state is still agitating for more.
Catholics in Crisis
Rules and principles will not steer people right if will and imagination are pulling them in a different direction.
Examining Iran’s Role in the New Middle East
Conflict does not inevitably consist of stereotypically evil enemies. The United States and Iran are only two among a suite of claimants to regional influence.
Donald J. Trump and the ‘America First’ Fairy Tale
Promoting themselves as nationalists, interventionists are back in business.
Why Congress is Not Serious About the War Powers in the Constitution
The House and Senate resolutions to prohibit military attacks on Iran have little chance of restricting the ability of the executive branch to do so.
In Praise of Rome’s Citizen Soldiers
They fought for home and family, which was preferable to professional mercenaries only in it for the emperor's spoils.
An Ingenious Way to Restore Constitutional War Authority
For the proposal to work, the House leadership and Speaker Nancy Pelosi would need to be serious about reigning in presidential war powers.
A Debauched Culture Leads to a Debauched Foreign Policy
In the political realm, debauchery is less characterized by the sensual vices than by an overzealous desire for power.
The Presidency Unchained
When it comes to war powers, conservatives are at odds with the framers of the Constitution.
Irving Babbitt and Warlike Democracies
A forthcoming book from our Managing Director brings the question of soul types to issues of foreign policy leadership.
The New Social Contract We Must Reject
If we allow this new social contract to become our national norm, we will no longer be Americans in any meaningful sense. We will descend from a self-governing people into the subjects of social democratic elites.
How the Pentagon Budget is a Threat to the Middle Class
Using the military as a replacement for the social safety net is a boondoggle, not a boon.
A French Officer Speaks the Truth about the War in Syria
The myth of humane warfare persists despite the reality on the ground, and low U.S. casualties mask the extent of the devastation.
The Armed Forces Arithmetic Isn’t Adding Up
Our increasingly hollow all-volunteer military is facing renewed major threats on the horizon.
When ‘Populist’ Becomes a Slur
Whether putative populists deserve condemnation depends entirely on what ideas, methods, and purposes they espouse.
A Covenant with all Mankind: Ronald Reagan’s Idyllic Vision of America in the World
Many who have heard Reagan's words have not really listened to them. They have taken away vague impressions of his rhetoric and have not fully understood the meaning and significance of what he actually said.
The ‘Fatal Flaw’ of Internationalism: Babbitt on Humanitarianism
A revolt against the dual tradition of Christian and humanistic self-discipline, and the substitution of a new basis of morality, lies at the heart of the breakdown of internationalism.
Power Without Limits: The Allure of Political Idealism and the Crumbling of American Constitutionalism
For the framers of the U.S. Constitution no task seemed more important than to limit and tame power.
You Can’t Blame Trump for the Welfare-Warfare State
The rush of power felt when America engages in a foreign crusade is effortlessly converted to a domestic crusade. Wars tend to undermine federalism.
Where is Real Statesmanship When We Need it Most?
Nothing is more antithetical to America’s constitutional ethos than demanding our opponents surrender unconditionally.
The Moral Path to Peace
Humanity faces no greater challenge in the 21st century than averting conflict among peoples and civilizations.
NATO’s Real Existential Threat: The Surrender of Western Values
The alliance's elites have come down with a case of civilizational cluelessness.
The Sad Truth of the FBI Scandal: Both Political Parties Are to Blame
The nation’s political class has allowed James Madison’s institutions to wither, and real authority now rests with the leaders of a largely unaccountable national security bureaucracy.
Can America’s Foreign Policy Be Restrained?
“How is it that the national security managers get away with it?” historian and foreign policy intellectual Andrew Bacevich asked at a recent event at Catholic University (CUA) in Washington, DC.
Why is America Addicted to Foreign Interventions?
The United States does not view itself as an aggressor state, but it has become ever more interventionist.
Phony Virtue is Ruining Western Society
The West’s moral outlook is now animated by the widespread belief that virtue is measured by one's professed sympathy.
Samuel Huntington Was Not Like Steve Bannon
Contrary to the caricatures of his ideas, Huntington did not cheer on a “clash of civilizations.” He recommended that we simply recognize the reality of such a clash and develop strategies for maintaining peace within it.
Time to Re-Boot the War Debate in Congress
Congressional leadership has engaged in serial evasion of their Article I responsibility to sanction military action.
Bad Multiculturalism in College, Bad Foreign Policy in Real World
There are two very different, even incompatible philosophies of multiculturalism, one sound and the other unsound.