Blinken on Damage-Limitation Tour After Afghanistan Fiasco

Blinken on Damage-Limitation Tour After Afghanistan Fiasco

Washington’s whirlwind outreach is evidently an effort to shore up confidence among U.S. allies in American defense commitments. United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting the Middle East and Europe this week in an effort to repair the damage to Washington’s standing with its allies following the disastrous retreat from Afghanistan. The top…

Why Have Embassies? Taliban Want to Talk but US Is Reluctant

Why Have Embassies? Taliban Want to Talk but US Is Reluctant

President Joe Biden’s departure from Afghanistan was the right thing to do even if it was handled disastrously. And he now has the opportunity to do some other “right things” that are in some ways related to the recently concluded fiasco in Central Asia in that the White House for too long has believed that…

Biden Doesn’t Want Rules and Order Everywhere

Biden Doesn’t Want Rules and Order Everywhere

The Israeli lobby groups in Washington will continue to make the rules. That’s what politics is all about. The phrase “rules-based international order” is being used a lot by Washington’s representatives who wish to make clear, as indicated by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, that they consider the alternative “is a world in which might…