Tag: Foreign Policy
Stevenson’s army, December 31
– WaPo reports the Taliban are behaving like the Taliban.
– NYT reports what’s being said about Biden-Putin call.
– SAIS Prof Frank Gavin assesses Biden’s first year.
– Here’s the 2022 congressional calendar.
The NDAA is now public law 117-81. The 910 page measure is here.Three sections, totaling 68 pages, cover “Matters relating to other nations” — foreign policy in the defense policy bill. The law also contains 19 pages of what’s called a State Department Authorization Bill, but it’s pretty skinny. The Department of Homeland Security gets 24 pages of new laws. And cyber matters take up 52 pages. As I’ve often said in class, the NDAA is now the everything bill, and it gives the defense committee people a key role in all foreign policy legislation.
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Stevenson’s army, October 3
I’ve been traveling the past couple of days, but here is today’s edition:
– NYT explains Republican holds on State Dept nominations. What Sen. Cruz [R-TX] has been doing is objecting to taking up nominations by unanimous consent and thus forcing Leader Schumer to use the 3-day cloture process for every contested nomination.
-China has been sending warplanes to warn Taiwan.
-WaPo highlights the tough budget choices facing the Biden administration, whether to drop favored programs from budget reconciliation or make them temporary in order to meet future budget number targets.
– CRS has new report on international affairs budgets & appropriations.
Here are Charlie’s weekend items from yesterday, October 2:
– Politico has an updated version of “I’m Just a Bill.” Enjoy!
-Defense One notes that the administration is relying on 2001 AUMF for its continuing strikes. See DOD transcript.
-Will we sanction India over its S400 purchase?
– FP says Erdogan might be quite sick.
– Bloomberg says WH Sit Room needs updating.
– Are we really turning against each other? Sad story from Idaho.
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, August 30
I often warn students that they can’t write a good paper on Congress using Google because all the significant inside information is behind paywalls that only lobbyists can afford. There’s more proof of that in Ben Smith’s column about the purchase of Politico for $1 billion [!] by Axel Springer. He notes that half Politico’s revenue comes from Politico Pro newsletters that cost $10K or more a year.
– Politico has its own scoop today — details of what DOD officials knew of the anticipated mass casualty event in Kabul.
– NYT says US fired counter-rocket munitions against ISIS-K attacks.
– WSJ says North Korea has restarted a reactor.
– France wants UN to establish safe zone around Kabul airport.
– Dan Drezner says Congress doesn’t care much about foreign policy.
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, August 22
– NYT has its own ticktock of DC policymaking.
-Fareed Zakaria says there were too many meetings that didn’t matter, also cites data on topheavy DOD.
-Former NIC chair says Afghanistan didn’t really have a “government.”
-NYT warns Afghanistan faces economic shock.
– At last, US military finds “alternative routes ” to airport.
– RollCall reports Congressional Management Foundation “oscars” for Congress.
Charlie adds:
Who needs another 549-page history of American foreign policy? Maybe you do. At least you should take a look at Robert Zoellick’s America in the World (Twelve, 2020). The author is not a trained historian, but a broadly experienced Washington policymaker who has served as U.S. Trade Representative, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and State Department Under Secretary, Counselor, and Deputy Secretary as well as President of the World Bank.
Zoellick has written an incomplete, episodic, but insightful history of the most significant American policies abroad. Organized around key figures from Alexander Hamilton and John Quincy Adams through John Hay and Charles Evans Hughes to recent U.S. Presidents, Zoellick sees economic and trade policies as important to his analyses as the traditional security narratives. That in itself is a useful corrective and valuable addition to our histories.
Time and again he offers personal anecdotes echoing his discussions of earlier events. For example, he concludes his analysis of the failure of Lyndon Johnson’s staff to warn him of their own doubts about Vietnam by citing times when his own bosses failed to give their presidents bad news. And he tells how Secretary of State James Baker paved the way for sensitive negotiations by making repeated face-saving concessions to another diplomat.
What I found especially new and valuable were his chapters on Charles Evans Hughes and Elihu Root. The first explains how America got into the diplomacy of arms control and the second is the best I’ve ever read about how legalism came to dominate U.S. foreign policy. His Cordell Hull chapter describes how the Tennessee lawmaker brought a radical change in trade policy. He uses Vannevar Bush to explain how the U.S. government embraced technological innovation for military security and economic prosperity.
He cites other historians with alternative views of post-1945 controversies and then adds his own assessments. He sprinkles his chapters with revealing incidents.
There’s not much about 21st century foreign policy except passing references, but his perspectives on America’s first two centuries are quite worthwhile.
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, July 24
The beach weeks with grandchildren are over. What news did I miss?
-Some in Congress want to claw back some foreign policy powers. Sen. Murphy [D-CT] describes the bill –with changes to war powers, national emergencies, and foreign arms sales.
– Looks like the House is hooked on remote voting.
– Sen. Cruz has a hold on several State nominations. Remember, holds are a norm. not a rule. But Senators do them because the party leaders dare not ignore them.
– WSJ notes that Democrats also use budget games.
-US will shift to formal advisory role in Iraq.
– But it’s giving air support to Afghans and new drone strikes in Somalia
– Influence peddling is alive and well. Haiti factions are hiring. Trump buddy was indicted.
-There’s a Nordstream2 deal, but some doubts about enforcement.
–Chip shortage may last until 2023.
– Quincy Institute tallies Middle East interventions.
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 21
– FP writer says Raisi is more an opportunist than a hard-liner.
– Jonathan Swan of Axios interviews Pakistani PM, who warns about CIA and ducks questions about China.
-Jake Sullivan answers questions on many foreign policy topics.
– NYT’s Max Fisher discusses resilience of revolutionary regimes.
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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