While partisan battles dominate headlines, U.S. foreign policy remains strikingly consistent across administrations. Many realists and non-interventionists were cautiously optimistic about Donald Trump’s second term bringing some modicum of restraint to foreign...
Foreign Policy
Syria and the Dark Side of the Force
by John Weeks | May 20, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
There is a charming scene in the film Clerks (1994) in which the sidekick character Randall discusses his misgivings about the film Return of the Jedi (1983) with the protagonist Dante. Randall is upset that the Rebel Alliance destroyed the Empire’s new military space...
Iran Nuclear Negotiations Bring New, Surprising Developments
by Ted Snider | May 20, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
In the past several days, there have been surprising developments in the negotiations between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s civilian nuclear program. U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently, but not always, defined the goal of the negotiations as being limited...
Opposition to Israel Does Not Need to be ‘Intersectional’
by James Rushmore | May 19, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
Variety recently reported on an open letter signed by nearly four-hundred members of the film industry in response to the Israeli Defense Forces’ killing of Palestinian photojournalist and war documentarian Fatima Hassouna. Hassouna, her pregnant sister, and nine...
TGIF: Individuals, Not America, First
by Sheldon Richman | May 16, 2025 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Let's hear no more about America First! It's a fraud, a cover for collectivist nationalism, and a distraction from what matters. (It also looks like camouflage for Trump Family First, but let's take it at face value for now.) On foreign policy, America First does not...
A Masterclass in Sanitized Cruelty
by John Mac Ghlionn | May 12, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
In his recent piece for The Free Press, Michael Ames accuses others—journalists, NGOs, international aid agencies—of engaging in rhetorical manipulation. Yet the irony is almost unbearable: his own article is a masterclass in precisely that. Ames purports to clarify,...
Bill Kristol vs. The Holy Father
by Jack Hunter | May 8, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
Recently when President Donald Trump shared an AI image of himself as the next pope in the wake of the death of Pope Francis, apparently in jest, it caused controversy. For neoconservative godson Bill Kristol, it created an opportunity to needle Vice President J.D....
The Kashmir Powder Keg
by Joseph Solis-Mullen | May 6, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
On April 22, 2025, militants opened fire near the Pahalgam area of Indian-administered Kashmir, killing twenty-six people—mostly Indian tourists. It was the deadliest attack on civilians in the region in over two decades. Within hours, New Delhi accused Pakistan of...