Commentary

When I was commissioned a Marine Corps officer in 1998, I was told to believe non-state entities were dangerous to U.S. national security.  Whether forecasting the end of history or the clash of civilizations, the foreign policy scholars my...

“This is not primarily a military relationship” answered the U.S. ambassador in Manila when asked about the relations between the Philippines and the United States.  Perhaps not, but its military aspects have certainly gained greater prominence in recent years. ...

INTRODUCTION  Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto got off to a promising start after his December 1, 2012, inauguration.  In a deft stroke, he created a “Pact for Mexico.” This accord provides a framework for the chief executive’s once-hegemonic Institutional...

In his recent op-ed in The New York Times, Russian president Vladimir Putin’s objected to the idea of American “exceptionalism.” This is ironic because the nation whose state tradition is based on a claim to exceptionalism is not the...

For too many decades, America has sent money, soldiers and drones to the sunburned stretches of the Sahara and the Sahel. America’s policy makers have, for too long, seen Africa as either a magnet for misery or a source...

It should come as no surprise that Syrian President Bashar Assad is adding new conditions to his government’s recent pledge to relinquish control of its chemical weapons (CW) to international monitors, now that the immediate threat of U.S. air...

THE SETTING Southeast Asia came into strategic focus for the U.S. for the first time in World War II as Allied forces fought to roll back Japan’s military occupation. As the post-war era took shape, communist insurgencies bid for...

In May, 1919, just as the diplomats of the great powers were putting the final touches on what became the Treaty of Versailles, Britain’s Royal Academy of Arts awarded its painting of the year to John Singer Sargent’s “Gassed”...

This year, Asian defense spending will surpass that of Europe for the first time in over half a millennium.  A steep drop in European military expenditures after the Cold War, a concurrent and steady rise in Chinese expenditures, and...

In 2012, amid the ongoing ferment of the so-called “Arab Spring,” officials throughout the Israeli government were expressing deep concern about their country’s strategic position, and the potential for conflict on a multitude of fronts. Today, by contrast, Israel’s...