Tag: Foreign Policy
Stevenson’s army, January 16
DOJ backtracks on “capture and assassinate” charge.
Scientists doubt hypersonic weapons will work as hoped.
Officials waited months to approve vaccine distribution plan.
Fred Kaplan calls Pompeo worst SecState ever. I think Tillerson is also in the running.
I have a piece in The Hill calling for Biden to name a lot of temporary officials.
Jonathan Swan details Haspel threat to quit over political appointee.
Jamelle Bouie chronicles the 2-decade campaign against “voter fraud.”
Warning ignored: Capitol Police warned 3 days before attack. Attackers included trained military.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to 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, January 13
State Dept says Sec. Pompeo cancelled his planned European trip in order to work on the transition. Reuters said the real reason was that he was denied high level meetings.
FP says Pompeo is ‘bluffing his way to a legacy.”
NYT piles on by reporting but disputing his claims about Iran and al Qaeda.
SASC hearing heard opposition to waiver for Austin. Hearing recording is here. I was especially impressed by statement from Naval War College Prof Lindsay Cohn on why no waiver is important for civil-military relations.
Smart move: WSJ says Biden will appoint several acting heads of agencies pending approval of nominees.
FT reports on Turkey’s many overseas operations.
FBI tries to explain why warning of Capitol violence didn’t have impact.
Parler users were at Capitol.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to 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, January 12
SecState Pompeo seems determined to change many existing policies before January 20
in order to lock in Trump views and box in Biden. This week he did it with Taiwan and the Houthis. Yesterday he put Cuba on the terrorist supporter list. And today he going to link Iran to al Qaeda.
Meanwhile, Reuters says DOD is violating the new law blocking troop withdrawals from Afghanistan.
Dean Cohen calls for punishment of Capitol rioters.
Interesting case: MD Senators defend head of military medical school.
Politico warns of extremists in US military ranks.
As the son of a policeman, I’ve long been concerned about the militarization of local police. TNSR has good article.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to 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, January 5
Georgia Senate races will determine control of the Senate, though we might not know for a while if the vote is as close as seems likely. Surprising to me: Democrats plan a big ground game, despite the pandemic, Daily Beast reports.
Slate details the QAnon and other conspiracy believers behind Trump’s fraud charges.
FP hears new HFAC chairman’s plans.
Fred Kaplan quotes me in discussing SecDef letter.
Lawfare writers suggest new limits if Austin is granted SecDef waiver.
Clip & save: Truth be told, I often include a long article in these messages before I have fully read them. Now that I have read the Golby & Feaver article on civil-military relations under Obama, Trump and Biden, I strongly recommend a close reading and saving for future referral. So I’m linking it again today.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to 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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Swagger is not pride, humility, or professionalism
Secretary of State Pompeo tweeted yesterday:
The real definition is:
walk or behave in a very confident and typically arrogant or aggressive way.
Oxford Languages
This pretty much sums up what is wrong with Pompeo: he lies incessantly, even about the well-established definition of words, and doesn’t know the difference between pride and humility, or for that matter anything about professionalism. Pompeo is well on his way to convincing most knowledgeable observers that he is the worst Secretary of State in history. He has had a lot of competition for the honor, including his egregious predecessor Rex Tillerson. I had my say on that yesterday.
In normal times, Pompeo’s comment would hardly be worth the electrons they are written with. But today eleven members of the Senate–seven sitting and four newly elected–have announced that they will challenge confirmation of the Electoral College votes on Wednesday. That is swagger. It will cause a pointless debate that will end in confirmation of Joe Biden’s election and likely violence by President Trump’s supporters on the streets of Washington. He will of course blame disorder on the non-existent Antifa and may even call out his various Federal police forces to make as much a mess of things as possible.
The four newly elected members are objecting to the validity of elections in which they themselves were elected. Consistency would require that they not claim their seats and ask for a rerun of the elections in their own states. None of them have the dignity to do that. One of their colleagues in the House even filed a law suit asking that the Vice President, who will preside on Wednesday, be authorized to override the Electoral College. A Trump-appointed Federal judge tossed out the law suit within a few hours. Of course these miscreants are only asking for the election results to be overturned in states that Biden and Harris won.
The rebels in Congress know they aren’t going to win. What they want is credit with Trump and “his” base for their hard stand against the Democrats. This is the new Republican party, committed to lying to its constituency, keeping its followers as uninformed as possible, and preventing its opponents from voting and their votes from being counted. And its all wrapped up in white supremacist swagger. The two Republican candidates for Senate in Georgia, where a run-off election Tuesday will decide the new Senate’s majority, are exemplars of this ilk.
Of course there are Republicans who aren’t down with this. Senator Romney has distinguished himself in this respect, but he is pretty much a loner in speaking out forcefully and recognizing Biden as President-elect. It is high time for more Republicans to do so, risking a split in their party. There is no sign that they can win a leadership struggle with Trump, but they could at least lay the basis for their party’s eventual revival as a truly conservative political entity. If they don’t speak up, Trumpism will their fate. It is high time for a bit of humility, professionalism, and pride. Swagger isn’t it.
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Stevenson’s army, December 7
Politco warns that John Kerry’s ill-defined role as climate czar and NSC member is likely to lead to clashes over personalities and policies. That’s always the case with positions not written into law with prescribed authorities.
FP says incoming NSA Jake Sullivan was part of a study group that interviewed ordinary Americans to develop ideas for foreign policy.
The resulting Carnegie Foundation report urges policies linking foreign policies to domestic ones.
Congress has a busy week. Past experience suggests that the “finish up and go home” spirit will lead to the necessary compromises, thought the budget may need a one-week extension of the CR.
Resign or be fired? AG Barr will leave early.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to 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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