March 23, 2023 Taking a brief pause from my research on improving U.S. security sector accountability (a new paper should be coming to these pages soon) I would like to discuss Jade McGlynn’s excellent, “Imposing the Past: Putin’s War for History,” published earlier this month in War on the Rocks. In her piece, McGlynn writesContinue reading “It’s Right Outside Your Door: The Authoritarian Right’s War for History”
Category Archives: United States
Bringing Back the U.S. Civilian Response Corps: Lessons from the British Empire and the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan
March 7, 2023 In August of 2021, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released its most comprehensive analysis of lessons learned from twenty years of U.S. and coalition attempts to vanquish the Taliban and to reconstruct the country in such a way that a democratically elected government in Kabul could eventually take over.Continue reading “Bringing Back the U.S. Civilian Response Corps: Lessons from the British Empire and the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan”
Avoiding Stabilization Whac-A-Mole: Failures in Afghanistan and Lessons From the British Empire (Early Progress Sneak Peek)
February 10, 2023 (What follows is just a brief look at the piece I am working on for next week. Enjoy at your leisure or come back next week for the full piece.) In August of 2021, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John F. Sopko, and his team, released its most comprehensiveContinue reading “Avoiding Stabilization Whac-A-Mole: Failures in Afghanistan and Lessons From the British Empire (Early Progress Sneak Peek)”
Effective, Impartial, and Transparent: The Need for Civilian Review of Alleged Incidents of Civilian Harm in U.S. Military Operations
February 3, 2023 In August of 2021, as the U.S. military was completing its withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone, using Hellfire missiles, destroyed a vehicle driving near Hamid Karzai International Airport that the Department of Defense initially said was laden with explosives. However, despite weeks of insisting that the strikeContinue reading “Effective, Impartial, and Transparent: The Need for Civilian Review of Alleged Incidents of Civilian Harm in U.S. Military Operations”
Aid for Kachin, Not Just Kyiv (Draft)
December 9, 2022 Author’s Note: Due to a new workflow that seems to be working well, I will, going forward, only be publishing on a bi-weekly basis. Therefore, what follows is merely the first part of a new paper that I will publish the rest of on 12/16. In the meantime, please feel free toContinue reading “Aid for Kachin, Not Just Kyiv (Draft)”
Making U.S. Foreign Policy Work Better for Americans and Africans
December 2, 2022 Back on March 24th, a month after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Chinese state media service Xinhua News Agency published an article blasting the Western-centric behavior of the United States, proclaiming that, “double standards were boldly on display when the U.S. urged European countries to absorb people fleeing Ukraine while [remaining]Continue reading “Making U.S. Foreign Policy Work Better for Americans and Africans”
Making U.S. Foreign Policy Work Better for Everyone (Part 1)
November 24, 2022 Author’s Note: Due to the short week and the holiday, what is below is merely the first half draft of this piece. The remainder will arrive on 12/2 in its usual manner with each recommendation more fully developed. In the meantime, please feel free to read what has been written so farContinue reading “Making U.S. Foreign Policy Work Better for Everyone (Part 1)”
For They Have Sown the Wind: Cause, Consequence, and the Historical Motivations of the Russian War in Ukraine
August 5, 2022 Back on June 23, John Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, gave a speech at the European Union Institute, wherein he offered up an explanation for the war in Ukraine that repudiated Western governments supposed rationales for entering the war, placing theContinue reading “For They Have Sown the Wind: Cause, Consequence, and the Historical Motivations of the Russian War in Ukraine”
Taking the Longest View in the Room: Biden, the Middle East, and the Future of U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council Relations
July 22, 2022 On Monday, July 18, President Biden returned to the U.S. from his four-day visit to the Middle East. During the trip, in which the U.S. president pushed for greater Arab-Israeli normalization, reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the region, and pressed for regional producers to reduce spare capacity in order to assist volatileContinue reading “Taking the Longest View in the Room: Biden, the Middle East, and the Future of U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council Relations”
Sleepwalking Into Disaster: U.S. and EU Foreign Policy in the Western Balkans
July 15, 2022 Back in June of this year, European Council President Charles Michel visited North Macedonia in an effort to begin EU membership talks with the country, and its neighbor, Albania. While the two nations are currently blocked in their path to EU accession by Bulgaria, Michel argued that the war in Ukraine hasContinue reading “Sleepwalking Into Disaster: U.S. and EU Foreign Policy in the Western Balkans”
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