Who’s the Real Maverick: McCain or Trump?

by John Feffer John McCain was an American politician. That sums up his best and worst qualities. He was not a maverick. As a rather conventional politician, he wasn’t even particularly courageous or much of a straight talker. He represented… Continue Reading  

Neoconservative Comeback? They Never Left

by Mike Lofgren Just as with entomology or botany, foreign policy analysis is largely an exercise in taxonomy: is some politician a realist or an idealist, a liberal internationalist or a national-interest proponent, an interventionist or an isolationist? Although thinking… Continue Reading  

Can Donald Trump Unite the World (Against Himself)?

by Dilip Hiro One thing already seems clear in the Trump era: the world will not turn out to be the American president’s playground.  His ultra-unilateralist, rejectionist policies on trade, the Iran denuclearization agreement, the costs of defense, and climate… Continue Reading  

Donald Trump: Gunrunner for Hire

by William Hartung American weapons makers have dominated the global arms trade for decades. In any given year, they’ve accounted for somewhere between one-third and more than one-half the value of all international weapons sales. It’s hard to imagine things getting much worse —… Continue Reading  

The NATO We Have and the NATO We Seek

by Diana Ohlbaum Donald Trump has thrown the “free world” into a tizzy with his ultimatum to European allies to increase their defense spending, his public questioning of why America should have to defend Montenegro, his classification of the European… Continue Reading