Various forms of “espionage lite” are nebulous enough to be used by overeager officials to make political points and strike tit-for-tat blows. Paranoia in the U.S. sets off Russian vindictiveness. This is not a virtuous cycle.
Analysis
David C. Speedie: Letter to the FT: Russia cannot afford a war with the west
Philip Stephens [“Russia cannot afford a war with the west”, 26 June] contains some home truths about Russia under Vladimir Putin, but comes significantly short of the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. To focus on but a few illustrations… [Read more…] about David C. Speedie: Letter to the FT: Russia cannot afford a war with the west
Daniel L. Davis: Why Can’t Europe Help Pay More for NATO?
A careful examination of America’s interests and NATO fundamentals suggest it might be time to let the sun go down on NATO.
Andrew Bacevich: Madcap Militarism: H.R. McMaster’s Dishonest Attack On Restraint
Anyone looking for new grand strategy won’t find it in the retired general’s latest ‘think piece.’
Daniel Larison: There Has Been No Retrenchment Under Trump
When we look at the specifics of Trump’s record, we see that he isn’t ending U.S. military involvement anywhere.
Marlene Laurelle: Russia’s Constitutional Amendments Keep Several Futures Open for Putin
On July 1, Russian citizens will be voting to approve amendments to the 1993 constitution, proposed by Vladimir Putin in January, planned for a vote in April and postponed to the summer as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. If adopted, the main change will be to allow Putin to stay in power after the end of his second consecutive – and fourth total – mandate, possibly up to 2036, when he is going to be 84 years old.
Stephen F. Cohen: How America Lost Post-Soviet Russia
Demetri Kofinas speaks with Stephen Cohen, one of the world’s foremost Russia experts about why he believes the United States bears much of the responsibility for its fractured relationship with Putin’s Russia and the serious prospects of nuclear war in the 21st century.
William J. Perry: The Atomic Titanic: an excerpt from “The Button”
The fact that we have lived with nuclear weapons for seventy-five years has lulled us into a false complacency.
Jan Oberg: The 2 per cent goal as defence illiteracy
NATO’s London Summit on December 3 and 4, 2019 displays the deep political crisis of the 70-year-old alliance.
Tom Switzer: A Tribute to Owen Harries
Founding National Interest editor Owen Harries has died but his legacy will not fade. He left a vital imprint on political and intellectual debates about the direction of American foreign policy.
Benjamin Bidder: The Case of Sergei Magnitsky
The story of Sergei Magnitsky has come to symbolize the brutal persecution of whistleblowers in Russia. Ten years after his death, inconsistencies in Magnitsky’s story suggest he may not have been the hero many people — and Western governments — believed him to be.
Barbara Slavin: Bolton’s Book Is An Instruction Manual For How Not To Do Foreign Policy
Anyone who has followed the long career of Donald Trump’s ex-national security advisor John Bolton knows of his hostility toward multinational agreements and hard line toward so-called rogue states. His solution to difficult countries like Iran and North Korea is always regime change: through sanctions if possible and military action if necessary.
Ted Galen Carpenter: When The Deep State Bullied Reagan’s Foreign Policy Chief
It is extraordinarily naïve to assert that powerful bureaucracies and their key personnel do not protect their institutional interests, push policies in directions they prefer, and attempt to dilute, delay, or defeat initiatives they oppose.
James Carden: A Terrorist in Pinstripes
Americans might look at Bolton and see a bland mustachioed bureaucrat; the rest of the world likely sees a terrorist in pinstripes. And in this book, Bolton only lends credence to that perception.
Ed Lozansky: Is Ukraine vital to U.S. security?
The ongoing impeachment inquiry of President Trump can certainly compete with Hollywood’s most successful drama or comedy shows.
Alex Ward: The real villain of John Bolton’s Trump book is John Bolton
Bolton makes clear President Trump’s foreign policy is absolutely terrible – but Bolton’s is much, much worse.
Peter Hitchens: In defense of journalism
Bellingcat’s ‘Citizen journalists’ are no such thing…
Daniel Larison: Jamaal Bowman Ousts Inveterate Hawk Eliot Engel
Engel’s leadership position on the Foreign Affairs Committee will most likely go to another similarly hawkish Democrat next year, but Engel’s defeat is a message to Democratic leadership that they cannot continue with business as usual.
Jeremy Kuzmarov: Remember the Oath of the Elbe
On April 25, 1945, American and Russian soldiers linked up at the Elbe River and made a pledge for peace that we should heed today.
Tom Z. Collina and Akshai Vikram: Why Are We Rebuilding the ‘Nuclear Sponge’?
Welcome to the “nuclear sponge.” A bizarre idea that has outlived its questionable Cold War-era usefulness, the nuclear sponge is the United States’ collection of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles intended to “soak up” a nuclear attack.