Tag: Foreign Policy
Stevenson’s army, July 7
-Columbia prof Robert Jervis has a devastating critique of John Bolton’s new book and of his performance as national security adviser.
– NYT review Bob Gates’ new book favorably. I’ve just finished reading it and support his call for strengthening the non military tools of foreign policy.
-NYT assesses Biden’s performance as VP on foreign policy and personal diplomacy.
– Phil Gordon as a good piece on post-Trump China policy.
– WSJ reminds us of the severe drop in remittances by foreign workers because of the pandemic.
– New Yorker has a thoughtful piece comparing how Germany confronted its Nazi past and how the US might deal with its legacy of racism.
– Politico has story and links to official documents on the administration’s new exclusions of foreign students.
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, June 2
– The US Constitution and existing laws place enormous limits on the federal government’s use of force. There is supposed to be civilian control, under the president. In the District of Columbia the president is in direct control of the national guard. That probably explains why guard forces aggressively dispersed protestors even before the DC Mayor’s 7pm curfew last night.
Earlier, in a call to governors, the president said CJCS General Milley was”in charge.” By law, of course, the Chairman is not in the chain of command over the armed forces, only over the Joint Staff. He cannot give combat orders. The White House press secretary said that there would be a “central command center” to deal with the riots nationwide. But the US military can’t be part of that without presidential invocation of the Insurrection Act. Contrary to the press secretary, the Justice Department told FP that it would be in charge, which is consistent with what Attorney General Barr told the governors, that the issue would be handled by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
BTW, his ignorance of the law also explains the president’s talk of declaring “antifa” a terrorist organization.
I’m troubled by several things: the president’s glorification of military force as the first response to civil protests; his disregard of the laws and norms by urging federal military intervention nationwide; the apparent complicity of the SecDef and CJCS in this situation. I agree with Kevin Baron of Defense One that “Trump now has the war he wanted.” And that’s bad for civilian control and order in law.
-How timely, Former SecDef Gates warns about the “overmilitarization” of American foreign policy.
-A Columbia prof confirms my concerns that US cyber programs are overwhelmingly focused on offense rather than defense and resilience.
– Time and the UN report the Taliban are colluding with al Qaeda again.
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, June 1
– FT says Israel and Iran have begun cyber war.
– USMC Commandant takes flak from Jim Webb.
– CFR has ideas for post-pandemic foreign policy.
– Many nuggets from long WaPo article on Trump’s rocky May.
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, May 28
– SecState Pompeo has made a ruling on Hong Kong required by a law Congress passed last year. Here’s a CRS backgrounder on Hong Kong.
– Several organizations have newsletters on China. Axios has one. Politico has just started one.
– NYT says Trump will expel Chinese graduate students in the US who have ties to the Chinese military.
– Bipartisan support for the “Pacific Deterrence Initiative.“
– Daily Beast says administration plans new arms sale to Saudi Arabia.
– Lawfare writer tees up key foreign policy legal issues a Biden administration would face right away.
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, April 30
– I do urge you to read the new Foreign Affairs piece by Prof. Brands and Peter Feaver and Will Imboden rebutting the argument that the US foreign policy elite, “the Blob,” have failed miserably.
-WaPo reports the continuing interagency fight over China, especially the restriction of medical imports.
– WaPo also profiles Matt Pottinger, deputy NSA and one of the leading China hawks.
– NYT legal writer says the executive order on meatpacking plants doesn’t go very far.
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, February 7
There are reports this morning that President Trump may fire his acting chief of staff as well as NSC staffer LtCol Vindman.
The Atlantic has a detailed article on how the Trump campaign has mastered digital advertising,leaving the Democrats far behind. There’s a lot of disinformation, but Trump voters remain loyal. I was struck by the reporter’s talk with a voter in Mississippi:“He tells you what you want to hear,” Willnow said. “And I don’t know if it’s true or not—but it sounds good, so fuck it.”
NYT has a good collection of Democratic candidate views on several foreign policy questions.
NYT also reports that Iraqi officials doubt that the attack that killed an American contractor and sparked retaliatory raids by US and Iran was launched by Iran. More likely, they say, it was ISIS.
AP says Iraq is deepening ties with Russia.
Dan Drezner warns the dollar may lose its primacy.
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. If you want to get it directly, 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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