Back in March, I wrote a post at Lawyers, Guns and Money called “Remember ‘Great Power Competition?’ Lol.” As the “Grand Strategy” of Trump 2.0 comes into focus, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit and update it. In brief, the normie national-security advisors who dominated the first Trump administration needed a way to make Trump’s […]| The Duck of Minerva
Trump’s peace plan could finally bring an end to Israel’s destruction of Gaza. But gaps in timing, guarantees, and last-minute Israeli amendments risk failure unless European and Arab states intervene| European Council on Foreign Relations
How can we understand Tump 2.0 foreign policy? It’s the product of the fusion of two different forces: Christian Nationalism and Personalist Rent-Extraction.| The Duck of Minerva
I used to feel compelled to write something on 9/11. Some of this was just to participate in the discourse, some out of fear that failure to do so would mean moving on and forgetting. In 2009–back when I provided free labor for The Huffington Post–I wrote this on the shadowy but still serious threat […]| The Duck of Minerva
Reflections on the Alaska and Washington Summits The first months of Trump’s return to office have been dominated by one question: what will he do about Ukraine? Supporters insist he alone can brin…| Branislav L. Slantchev
The foreign policy world is still making sense of the Trump Administration’s massive cuts to the US State Department last week. Under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, nearly 1500 employeesR…| The Duck of Minerva
11 July 2025 | PDF: https://issforum.org/to/jrt16-47 | Website: rjissf.org | Twitter: @HDiplo Editor: Diane Labrosse Commissioning Editor: John M. Schuessler Production Editor: Christopher Ball Pre…| H-Diplo|RJISSF
Jeffrey A. Friedman, Dartmouth College 3 July 2025 | PDF: http://issforum.org/to/RE131 | Website: rjissf.org | X: @HDiplo Editor: Diane Labrosse Commissioning Editor: Daniel R. Hart Production Editor…| H-Diplo|RJISSF
1 July 2025 | PDF: http://issforum.org/to/RE129 | Website: rjissf.org | X: @HDiplo Editor: Diane Labrosse Commissioning Editor: Daniel R. Hart Production Editor: Christopher Ball Pre-Production Copy…| H-Diplo|RJISSF
I dislike the term “soft power.” We owe the term to the late, great Joseph Nye. He popularized it in his 1990 book, Bound to Lead. Nye’s book was, first and foremost, an intervention in the “declinism” debates of the later 1980s. Japan was at the peak of its influence; some projected that its economy […]| The Duck of Minerva
The current political crisis in Afghanistan is actually an important step towards a realistic peaceful solution: a political “unsettlement”. The post Afghan Peace is Now About the Art of the Possible, Not the Perfect appeared first on Foreign Policy Journal.| Foreign Policy Journal
Renowned international relations scholar and practitioner Joseph S. Nye passed away last week. Numerous tributes have been written, noting his high quality scholarship and influence on US foreign p…| The Duck of Minerva
A new ECFR poll points to Europeans’ widespread (but not universal) reassessment of the transatlantic relationship, and extensive opportunities for the new US president to divide them if they do not…| ECFR
US President Jimmy Carter’s funeral is being held today in Washington, DC at the National Cathedral. Since he passed away shortly after Christmas, tributes have abounded about a man once deri…| The Duck of Minerva
As the Maduro and Trump inaugurations draw near, the outgoing Biden administration met with opposition politician Edmundo González.| Venezuelanalysis
Trump and Netanyahu can finally kill the concept of an independent Palestinian state, part of the ultimate "Art of the Deal."| Politics Today
The West doesn’t have the financial clout to pursue global primacy – if it ever did.| TheAltWorld
Garry Kasparov in a long interview with Rbc-Ukraine: The fall of the “mafia-type dictator” Vladimir Putin “will be inevitable after the liberation of Ukraine. The war cannot end while Putin is in power. Putin’s downfall will be the result of Russia’shttps://t.co/BbRmR7grpi — Maria Esteves (@marlesteves) August 17, 2023 .@Kasparov63: “#Putin’s downfall will be the result... Read More| Kasparov
June 23, 2024 (In this installment, I cover the crucial period from 1989 to the 1999 NATO enlargement. The subsequent developments will be dealt with in a follow-up essay.) In recent days, both Pre…| Branislav L. Slantchev
May 28, 2024 A week or so ago, Aleksandar Djokic sent me some questions about transition to a war economy for an article he was writing (you can read it here). I wrote a reply that was way too long…| Branislav L. Slantchev
ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan is seeking arrest warrants against two Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, and three Hamas officials.| Jeremy R. Hammond
(The Times of Israel) – Did you notice the three members of Congress wearing swastikas during President Biden’s State of the Union address early in March? They adorned U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Summer Lee (D-Pa.),…| Defend Israel, Defend Freedom
It took a country-wide power outage in Venezuela, whispers of a cyberattack, and smug tweets from US officials to make Continue reading →| Mideast Shuffle
Israelis now find themselves at the cusp of a new era defined by the breakdown of the country’s legal system, political crisis and social instability.| Foreign Policy Journal
May 11, 2023 It has been a month since my last comprehensive update, and now there is enough accumulated material to write an update on the eve of the coming Ukrainian summer offensive. There is a …| Branislav L. Slantchev
