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Several years ago, I handed out to my class a recent (then) Library of Congress description of military invasions of other counties undertaken by the United States. Before handing it out, I asked them how many there were or how many they had knowledge of. Their answers all highlighted Vietnam, Korea, and, certainly, Germany, although…

Having already listed the “Top Twelve Statements” and the “Worst Six Episodes” in U.S. Foreign Policy, it is time now to describe the “Top Ten Decisions” within the same subject, as to both causes and consequences. As before, it is imperative to mention how “subjective” these are, that they are not necessarily rated and that…

Is the Biden administration intellectually honest enough with itself to treat this as a setback and learn from it? As the Chinese spy balloon crisis deflates, a key question remains: Why did the PRC do it? The answer might be as simple as this: Because they could. Maybe no one in Beijing believed that the…

F-16 Fighters for Ukraine? Now that the United States and European powers have pledged to supply Ukraine with heavy armor, some are confident that high performance aircraft are the next logical step. Yuriy Sak, an advisor to Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, recently told CNBC, “We will get F-16s.” However, if they do get them, then what? Read the…

All the “Social Sciences” have certain “concepts” that identify, clarify, or define their social/political boundaries and separate them from their competitors. The world of sociology, for example, will use concepts such as race, tribe, nation, etc. that dominate its own field; economics and political science do the same, etc. This doesn’t mean that the various…

The Great Power Competition requires a new defense posture that adapts to the exigencies of the Russia-Ukraine war and the rise of China. A successful defense posture will necessarily require a reexamination of US defense strategy, and, importantly, the level of resources devoted by the US and its allies to national defense. Read the full…

The Ukrainians do not expect American and other NATO troops to die for them. They fight bravely on their own even with outdated equipment. Early on in the war, the Ukrainian ancient T-64 tanks routed Russia’s famous 1st Guards Armored Army twice. By now, however, Ukraine has amassed quite an armored force: in reality and in pledges. Most NATO countries have contributed, the Americans and…

The problem is that Putin may have other requirements on his checklist. If the Biden administration is engaged in postwar planning for Ukraine, it might want to consider how to get postwar first. Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave his views on the endgame in Ukraine and what should happen after. He emphasized a key…

In 1988, young Comrade Qin Gang (秦剛) did not graduate from the China Foreign Affairs University (外交學院), China’s training academy for diplomats. He never attended the Institute. Instead, he graduated from Beijing’s “University of International Relations” (國際關係學院) which, as I recall from early in my diplomatic career, was a campus well-known for its affiliation with…

The passage of the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) last month offers an opportunity to reassess the future of the U.S. defense program in the context of how the U.S. should plan, program, and budget for defense throughout the period of the Great Power Competition. The willingness of Congress, for a second…