The Hypocrisy of Bombing Iran

The Hypocrisy of Bombing Iran

President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly expressed concern that Iran could develop a nuclear bomb on his watch. In considering his options to prevent that, The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump is considering airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Being open to such an action is not inconsistent with Trump's character or past performance. General Mark Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the first Trump administration, says he feared that Trump would launch missile strikes on Iran that could trigger an all out war. “If you do this,” Milley told him,...

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One Day, Ukrainians Might Hate America

One Day, Ukrainians Might Hate America

There was a time, just before and just after Russia's invasion, that Ukraine might have lost no territory except Crimea and few lives. But America said no. In December 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented the United States and NATO with a proposal on security guarantees. Then-NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the “promise [of] no more NATO enlargement…was a pre-condition for not invade Ukraine.” The United States was not then, nor are they yet, willing to offer NATO membership to Ukraine. Ukraine was then willing to abandon its pursuit of NATO membership, as signaled...

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New Russian Missile Delivers Six Warheads and Three Messages

New Russian Missile Delivers Six Warheads and Three Messages

On November 21, just two days after Ukraine acted for the first time on American permission to fire Western supplied long-range missiles deeper into Russia, Russia launched a missile attack on a military base in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. That base houses the missile and space company Pivdenmash, which produces missiles, rockets, satellites and engines. The attack included six cruise missiles and a Kinzhal hypersonic missile. There is nothing new or unusual about hitting that military target or about using those missiles. But there was something very unusual about the 9M729 Oreshnik...

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All Risk, Little Gain: U.S. Authorizes Long-Range Strikes into Russia

All Risk, Little Gain: U.S. Authorizes Long-Range Strikes into Russia

On November 17, the United States told the world what they told Ukraine three days earlier: Ukriane had permission to fire American supplied long-range missiles deeper into Russian territory. Not much needs to be said about the risks involved in the decision. They are the same risks that have caused the Joe Biden administration to hesitate green lighting the strikes for months. Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly said in September that because long-range strikes into Russia “are impossible to employ without intelligence data from…NATO satellites,” that “mean[s] that NATO countries…are...

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A Political Price is Being Paid for Being in the West

A Political Price is Being Paid for Being in the West

The concept of “the West” is a complex and difficult one. At times it excludes countries in the geographical west, like Cuba and Venezuela and sometimes Brazil. At times it includes countries not in the geographical west, like Japan and Australia. As Richard Sakwa has explained, the West can refer to a 500 year old civilizational West or to a cultural or historical West of which Russia considers itself to be a core member. The twin ticket admission into the political West is membership in the U.S.-led, post-Cold War security community built around NATO and in a cultural community allegedly...

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Trump’s Election Could Be the Best Result for Zelensky

Trump’s Election Could Be the Best Result for Zelensky

Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, needs a way to lose the war with Russia. American voters may have just given it to him. In his victory speech early in the morning of November 6, President-elect Donald Trump said, “I will govern by a simple motto: Promises made, promises kept. We're going to keep our promises.” He promised fixing our borders. He promised the greatest economic comeback. But there is only one thing he promised to do even before he took office and that is end the war in Ukraine. That will be the first test of his governing motto. Trump has been vague about how exactly...

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The Nukes or NATO: The Hidden Threat Behind Zelensky’s Victory Plan

The Nukes or NATO: The Hidden Threat Behind Zelensky’s Victory Plan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been on a tour of the capitals of Europe promoting his Ukrainian Victory Plan. It is apt that he has billed it a victory plan and not a peace plan because there is nothing of peace in it. The plan aims to strengthen Ukraine militarily so that Russia is forced with the decision of “going into diplomacy or going to lose its war machine.” But, more dangerously than feeding the war and the illusion of a Ukrainian victory, each of the key military points of the plan promotes, not only war, but an expanded war between Russia and NATO. “The first and very...

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Three Paths to a Wider War in the Middle East

Three Paths to a Wider War in the Middle East

“We’re going to do everything we can to keep a wider war from breaking out,” U.S. President Joe Biden promised when war erupted in Gaza. But that foreign policy legacy is in tatters. War has spread from Gaza to Lebanon and has arrived at the doorstep of Iran. There is a real danger that the war could continue to spread. On October 1, Iran demonstrated its capability to evade Israel’s air defense systems and deliver ballistic missiles to their targets in Israel. Since then, Hezbollah has demonstrated the ability to evade Israel’s air defense systems with slower moving drones. Israel has...

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