Tag: Congress
Stevenson’s army, June 1
– President Biden makes his Ukraine policy paper public as an op-ed in NYT. He makes clear:
So long as the United States or our allies are not attacked, we will not be directly engaged in this conflict, either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces. We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders. We do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia.
– Other reports say US is sending MLRS rockets, but Ukraine has promised not to fire them into Russia.
– WSJ says Zelensky has confirmed that condition.
– WSJ also reports, as I have long warned, that the European coalition on Ukraine is fracturing.
– NYT says Russia repeating its mistakes in renewed Ukraine fighting.
– NYT notes how much Erdogan is disrupting NATO.
– Two reports on Russia’s Wagner group — backgrounder by pro publica and report on massacre in Mali in NYT
– Pacific Islands cool to Chinese offers, but NYT report says China is winning in the Pacific.
-David Ignatius says MBS is winning because US has to deal with him.
– Ezra Klein says too many Democratic Party leaders are lawyers who are more excited about procedures than results.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, May 21
– FT notes that Sweden’s government won power by the single vote of a Kurdish MP.
– CNN says both Ds and Rs are unhappy with House Freedom Caucus for forcing votes on minor issues, sometimes preventing fundraisers.
– The Hill says census undercount won’t change House distribution.
– FP notes how reliant Russian military is on minority regions.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenon’s army, May 13
I just finished former SecDef Mark Esper’s memoir, A Sacred Oath. It’s a good, informative book about his service as Secretary. Unlike many such books, he spends little time on his life before the Pentagon, then tells revealing stories about fighting the bureaucracy, fighting the NSC staff, and, of course, pushing back on Pres. Trump’s crazy ideas. The Trump stories are scattered chronologically, showing what a constant problem he faced.
– Ukraine aid stalled by Sen. Paul’s objection.
– Sweden moves closer to NATO membership.
– Something happened to a secret Navy ship.
– WOTR has good ideas on building a cyber force.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, May 6
-Scotusblog has the best analysis I’ve seen about the Supreme Court leak: look at the bylines and what happened before.
– Votes on a non-binding motion to instruct have no legal force or effect, but the supermajority vote on Iran puts a new deal in jeopardy.
– NYT show what the war looks like to Russians.
– Nicaragua wants to connect with US.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, May 5
Court decisions on campaign laws opened a big loophole that led to an amazing development in the Ohio Republican Senate primary. As CRS noted,
Unlimited Contributions to Independent-Expenditure-Only Political Action
Committees (Super PACs)
On March 26, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held in
SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission24 that contributions to PACs that make only independent expenditures—but not contributions—could not be constitutionally limited. As a result, these entities, commonly called super PACs, may accept previously prohibited amounts and sources of funds, including large corporate, union, or individual contributions used to advocate for election or defeat of federal candidates. Existing reporting requirements for PACs apply to super PACs, meaning that contributions and expenditures must be disclosed to the FEC.
Peter Thiel formed such a super PAC, gave it $15 million, which went for campaign activities for J.D. Vance, who had few ads or activities funded by his own campaign. Since the law forbids “coordination,” the super PAC puts its key information including polls and suggested messages in an obscure place online. It even posted its oppo research findings on Vance, so he could know what attacks might be made.
In other news: NYT says US shared intelligence with Ukraine that helped them target Russian generals.
Reuters says US has offered security assurances to Sweden if it seeks to enter NATO.
Defense News says some key congressional figures are now open to F16 sales to Turkey.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, May 4
– Why is Russia showing restraint in Ukraine, NYT asks.
– Are US leaders thinking before they talk about Ukraine, Tom Friedman wonders.
– Did CIA director’s meeting with MBS solve anything?
– Can Congress be reformed? Retiring David Price has doubts.
– Is GOP divided over earmarks?
– Why hasn’t Biden ended the interagency fight over China tariffs?
– Is Russia losing on the electronic battlefield, as David Ignatius argues?
– What have we shipped to Ukraine? Breaking Defense answers.
– Why did we send mentally disabled men to fight in Vietnam?
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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