Media dismissal and outright slander has knee-capped Gabbard’s campaign to be president. Her fellow millennial veteran provided a small assist. Interviewed a week ago by Bill Maher, the late night host told Buttigieg, “You are the only military veteran in this.” “Yeah,” replied the mayor, his sister-in-arms erased.
Analysis
New Criterion: A review of Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum
Anne Applebaum’s new work, Twilight of Democracy, is a disconnected and overwrought pamphlet (50,000 words) with an alarmist title unsustained by the contents.
NPR: U.S. Has Deployed New, Small Nukes On Submarine, According To Group
The U.S. has begun deploying a new type of low-yield nuclear warhead aboard some ballistic missile submarines, according to a report by an independent monitor.
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos: Is Syrian Oil Now A ‘U.S. National Interest’?
“I would like to see a presidential debate in which both Trump and Biden are forced to articulate why we are in Syria and why it is in our national interest to be there,” writes Kelley Vlahos.
Caroline Dorminey and Sumaya Malas: Want a Bipartisan, Common Ground Issue? Extend New START.
One of the most critical arms control agreements, the New Strategic Reduction Arms Treaty (New START), will disappear soon if leaders do not step up to save it.
William Arkin: Exclusive: With Attention on Iran, US Military Prepares For War With Russia
During the height of tensions with Iran last year, the United States conducted an unprecedented series of war games. Over five months, from May until the end of September, 93 separate military exercises were held, with forces operating continuously in, above and around 29 countries.
Paul Robinson: ‘Troubles come in threes’
Still struggling with the coronavirus, Russia’s leaders have this past week also been troubled by the protests in Belarus and the potential loss of a key ally. And now they face a third, and in some ways politically far more troublesome, problem – the suspected poisoning of Russian opposition activist Aleksei Navalny.
Mark Perry: Not Even The Military Thinks Landmines Are A ‘Vital Tool’
Trump’s recent reversal of Obama’s landmine ban was not only a petty political move but just another boondoggle for the Pentagon.
Marshall Auerback and James Carden: The rotten alliance of liberals and neocons
Forswearing preemptive military action (wars of choice) isn’t enough. Change will only come about when U.S. foreign policy adheres to the principles of the UN Charter, and above all, the ancient Westphalian principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
TAI: Michael Lind on Reviving Democracy
Lind, author of the new book The New Class War says “there’s agreement among people with very different views of history that what we call “liberalism”…has moved toward hyper-individualism in the culture and deregulation of the economy, and that this is a bad thing. It’s bad for community. It’s bad for the nation-state.”
Breaking Defense: The Fuzzy Outlines Of Biden’s National Security Policies
The first outlines of what a Biden administration’s national security policy and defense budget are coming clear.
Doug Bandow: Our Military Is Clashing With Russians While Defending Syrian Oil. Why?
Trump seems to think it’s okay to choose who controls resources and who doesn’t in other people’s countries.
VIDEO: Center for the National Interest: Belarus At the Eye of the Storm
The rapidly developing situation in Belarus could potentially trigger the most significant shift in the European status quo since events in Ukraine in 2014. How likely is regime change in Minsk? Could Russia realistically take military action to forestall it? Might an incipient struggle for predominance in Belarus spark a wider confrontation between the United States, Europe, and Russia?
Steven Pifer: Don’t Let New START Die
Little suggests grounds for optimism about nuclear arms control as long as Mr. Trump remains president. Change will require that the Democratic candidate win in November. His or her administration would then have to move immediately to extend New START before exploring additional measures that could usefully regulate an ever more complex arms competition with Russia and others.
Ted Galen Carpenter: Are We Deliberately Trying To Provoke A Military Crisis With Russia?
Adangerous vehicle collision between U.S and Russian soldiers in Northeastern Syria on Aug. 24 highlights the fragility of the relationship and the broader test of wills between the two major powers.
Gary Leupp: NATO and the Impeachment Trial
Trump will not be removed. But bipartisan Russophobia will be further deepened, NATO further lionized and immunized from criticism.
Lucy Komisar: How Democrats and Republicans Passed the Magnitsky Act
The Magnitsky act was the opening act of Russiagate, where Cold Warrior Democrats joined forces with Cold Warrior Republicans.
Barbara Boland: The machinations of the Democratic establishment are beyond parody
It’s hard to believe that many Democrats will accept the eventual tally out of Iowa, especially given that it will be proffered by the same people who spent the last three and a half years blaming Trump’s win in 2016 on Russian interference.
Andrey Sushentsov: Power Politics Makes the World More Predictable
There is no longer any ambiguity regarding the evolution of the international system. Moreover, in some situations, power politics can play a constructive role. So, in Eurasia, conditions are being shaped the formation of an extensive Eurasian concert, analogous to the European concert of the early 19th century, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Andrey Sushentsov.
Natylie Baldwin: Cold War Liberals at the State Department and the DNC
The author Natylie Baldwin asks ACEWA editor James Carden (also of The Nation magazine and the Simone Weil Center for Political Philosophy), about the foreign policy views within the Obama-era State Department.