Motivations for the Dead-End Policy on Iran

by Paul R. Pillar Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent speech on Iran, although titled “After the Deal: A New Iran Strategy,” was not new at all. It was mostly a recitation of the same arguments, with the same fallacies… Continue Reading

Donald Trump’s Marine Corps Presidency: The Few…The Proud…The Unhinged

by Mark Perry Ask anyone in the Pentagon for their opinion of new White House chief of staff John Kelly, and the answer is nearly unanimous: “Kelly is one of the most fundamentally decent people I’ve ever met,” a senior… Continue Reading

Yes, There Is a Deep State—But Not the Right Wing’s Caricature

by Mike Lofgren The heated controversy over the right wing’s characterization of Donald Trump’s chronic conflict with the U.S. intelligence community as the machinations of “the Deep State” has inevitably generated political pushback from more establishmentarian figures. Paul Pillar on… Continue Reading

Donald Trump against the World

by John Feffer Donald Trump is a worldly fellow. He travels the globe on his private jet. He’s married to a Slovene and divorced from a Czech. He doesn’t speak any other languages, but hey, he’s an American, so monolingualism… Continue Reading

Four Looming Flashpoints Facing Trump

by Michael T. Klare Within months of taking office, President Donald Trump is likely to face one or more major international crises, possibly entailing a risk of nuclear escalation. Not since the end of the Cold War has a new… Continue Reading