Putin certainly sees Trump as an easy mark

April 29, 2025

Judging a US president’s first hundred days began with Franklin Roosevelt.  For Donald Trump, however, certainly on national-security issues, comparison to Napoleon’s hundred-days campaign may be more apt, ending as it did in disaster for both the emperor and France. Trump’s indifference to Ukraine and his conciliatory approach toward Russia are only one of several […]

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What Next After Rome?

April 22, 2025

No one was more surprised than Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu when he learned of Donald Trump’s intention to reopen negotiations with Iran over its nuclear-weapons program.  At an April 7 meeting in Washington, Netanyahu almost certainly expected to move forward on plans for a potential Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile programs, perhaps […]

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Europe could blow the west apart

March 25, 2025

Donald Trump has confirmed since 20th January that he is an aberration in American politics. That was clear in his first term, but many refused to acknowledge reality, fervently hoping his second term would be a legacy-building project. Their mistake was assuming that their definition of “legacy”—what normal political leaders see as solidifying a positive […]

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The Only Question Trump Asks Himself

March 11, 2025

Ukraine’s Volodomyr Zelensky is “a dictator without elections,” with only a four percentapproval rating( https://www.newsweek.com/what-trump-has-said-about-zelensky-since-2022-2039000 ). The war in Ukraine( https://apnews.com/article/trump-speech-congress-transcript-751b5891a3265ff1e5c1409c391fef7c ) is “madness” and “senseless.” While it is true Russia iscurrently “pounding” Ukraine, “probably anyone in that position would be doing that rightnow( https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crknjxj3n4zo ).” Kyiv is “more difficult, frankly, to dealwith” than Moscow.This […]

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How to Protect NATO and Other Alliances From Trump

March 04, 2025

Responsible advisers and GOP lawmakers should redirect his focus to other targets, especially the EU. Last week’s Trump-Vance-Zelensky train wreck proved that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is on increasingly shaky ground. Starting with Donald Trump’s Feb. 12 phone call with Vladimir Putin about the Ukraine war, things got worse when Mr. Trump called Volodymyr […]

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After the Oval Office Debacle

March 03, 2025

Vladimir Putin was the only winner in last week’s Oval Office grudge match between Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.  Trump harmed US national security by ignoring our profound, long-standing interest in European stability, which we learned through the 20th Century’s two hot world wars and one Cold War.  Ensuring our enemies do not […]

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Dark days lie ahead with Trump on the world stage once more

January 13, 2025

Soon to be cast adrift by President-elect Trump, Ukraine’s likely future is bleak. Let’s not make it worse by a feckless peace dealDonald Trump’s looming inauguration bodes poorly for vital Western security interests, and Ukraine in particular. Trump’s hostility to NATO is palpable, and his feelings about Ukraine follow close behind. After January 20, US military and […]

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North Korea comes to Europe: How will the next president respond? ​

October 30, 2024

The threat of North Korea fighting alongside Russia in Ukraine is no longer a nightmare, but a real possibility. Two weeks ago, Kyiv said Pyongyang’s soldiers were already in Ukraine and had sustained casualties. Now the Biden administration has confirmed that 10,000 North Korean troops are training in Russia, adding that they will be “fair […]

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A Biden-Starmer Giveaway Helps China

October 21, 2024

The U.K. had no good reason to cede the Chagos Islands, a militarily strategic archipelago, to Mauritius. By John Bolton As a one-term president, Joe Biden appears eager to take actions he might not have taken if he had to worry about getting re-elected. The latest example: He apparently pushed the U.K. to cede sovereignty of the Chagos […]

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A Biden-Starmer Giveaway Helps China

October 16, 2024

As a one-term president, Joe Biden appears eager to take actions he might not have taken if he had to worry about getting re-elected. The latest example: He apparently pushed the U.K. to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to the island country of Mauritius. The Chagos archipelago is unremarkable but for one […]

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