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In Case You Missed It: Gourmet Cooking as Diplomacy
Chefs on the White House Lawn. Source: The Braiser If you would like to work for the State Department, you can now consider going to cooking school and then joining the American Chef Corps, launched...
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The Problem With “42 Allies”
You might think most foreign policy wonks were looking forward to last night’s presidential debate but most I know were actually dreading it. It was well known that the difficult and pressing questions...
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Obama is still bluffing on Iran
An unexpected shadow was cast over President Obama’s swing through Southeast Asia last week by the fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The diversion is interpreted by some as a sign of how the...
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America vs. China: A Counter-Narrative Arises
Photo Credit: Andy Wong/AP Given all the fanciful prognostications about how China is poised to eat America’s lunch, it might sound odd that the country’s new leader, Xi Jinping, is sloganeering about...
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Hagel, Kerry and the Ghost in Their Heads
The White House/Pete Souza President Obama’s nomination of Chuck Hagel as his Defense Secretary has sparked a raging debate over whether the views held by the former Senator from Nebraska are...
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McDonough’s Elevation and the Obamians’ Ascent
The pending appointment of Denis R. McDonough, currently President Obama’s deputy national security advisor, as White House chief of staff will have major ramifications for how the administration...
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How Secretary Clinton Got It All Wrong
“To work with all our heart and all of our might to make sure that America is secure, that our interests are promoted and our values are respected.” - Former Secretary of State Clinton If only...
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Architects without Umbrellas
Photo Credit: KM Chaudary For decades there have been conversations, tough questions, “ah-ha” moments, deep insights and common sense shared in one-on-one exchanges with John Kerry and Chuck Hagel. In...
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Secretary Kerry Needs to Bring His “A” Game
Source: Google photos “We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible” – Vince Lombardi Will Secretary of State Kerry prove to be a master of the foreign relations game...
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Secretary Kerry and Global Public Opinion
Secretary Kerry in Berlin. Source: AP/Boston Globe With Secretary Kerry currently traveling on his inaugural trip overseas as secretary of state, the Pew Center has compiled data on public opinion of...
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A Look at U.S.–Iran Relations Under the Shah
from left, Jacqueline Kennedy, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Empress Farah Diba, President John F. Kennedy Editor’s Note: The following is a summary from a selected project at York University in Canada....
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The Asia Pivot Has Credibility Problems
Tom Donilon, the U.S. national security advisor, was at the Asia Society in New York last week to talk (transcript here; video here) about the Obama administration’s effort to shift Washington’s...
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The Desi Factor in U.S.-India Relations
U.S. President Barack Obama (R) listen to India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh make a toast during a State Dinner in a giant tent on the South Lawn of the White House, November 24, 2009....
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Benghazi and Hillary Clinton’s Day of Dissonance
Last Wednesday was a day of extremes for the former Secretary of State, who was in Beverly Hills to pick up a public service award from a private foreign policy organization. There her tenure at the...
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Obama in the Middle East: Fading Red Lines and Eroding Credibility
A post last month argued that President Obama was fast approaching a defining moment for his foreign policy in view of the mounting evidence that the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria used sarin, a...
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U.S. Smart Power is Taking a Beating
In his journey to the White House, Barack Obama made much hay railing against his predecessor’s supposedly go-it-alone mindset and penchant for foreign policy unilateralism. With memories still fresh...
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Common Problems Subverting Obamacare and U.S. Foreign Policy
The management flaws now coming to light in the implementation of the president’s signature domestic achievement have long been evident in the foreign policy realm. As I argue in a new essay on Fair...
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A Wide Ocean, Difficult Days & Ties that Bind: Morocco-U.S. Relations 50...
On Friday, we will look back on the 50 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and how that tragic event in Dallas changed history. Also, on Friday, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI will...
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Senators Should Let Negotiators Negotiate
Senators Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J. (Photo: americanprogress.org) As regular readers know, the United States and five other countries (P5+1) concluded an interim nuclear...
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Gates Sheds New Light on Obama’s Afghan Dysfunctions
My last post noted how the blockbuster memoir by Robert M. Gates reinforces the points many observers have made about the defects of the Obama administration’s national security process. The...
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