The Ethics of Regime Change

by Helena Cobban Two detailed accounts have appeared recently of cloak-and-dagger operations undertaken by Western intelligence agencies to effect the defection of high-level officials of governments targeted for regime change. In his new book, Assad or We Burn the Country:… Continue Reading

Russia’s Three-Step Plan for Any Military Intervention

by Evgenia Sokolovskaya While Russia’s role in Syria and Venezuela captures the world’s attention, the Kremlin is quietly bonding with new allies in Africa using the same three-step intervention method it has already adopted to expand its influence elsewhere. The… Continue Reading

The Fall of the House of ISIS

by John Feffer The Middle East today is enduring a replay of World War II — with the Islamic State in the role of Nazi Germany. Having seized much of Europe and parts of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany reached… Continue Reading

From “New World Order” to “No World Order”

by John Feffer George H.W. Bush made a bold pronouncement on September 11, 1990. Even though Iraq had recently invaded Kuwait and the collapse of the Soviet Union was still more than a year away, Bush proclaimed the imminent dawn… Continue Reading

Trump, Afghanistan, and Shades of the Tuesday Lunch

by Paul R. Pillar Impending choices by President Trump regarding the war in Afghanistan raise issues of national security decision-making in his presidency that in turn evoke pathologies of the past, with Trump’s personal habits threatening to make matters at… Continue Reading