Responsible Statecraft

British defense chief Wes Streeting recently said the U.K. has 1000 days to be “ready with our allies to fight and win.” The enemy is obvious: Russia. The catch: London doesn’t have the cash to fight, and ordinary folk aren’t interested. This latest reminder that war with our Slavic foes is imminent is vague and unspecified, and frankly tedious. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out nearly a year ago, “rarely a week goes by now without a European government, military or security chief making a

In the wake of Brazilian incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva’s historic reelection, right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro executed a daring — and likely CIA-assisted — escape to the bosom of Cuban-exile, neoconservative Miami, where he briefly proclaimed himself “president-elect” of Brazil. Within hours of his loss, the younger Bolsonaro — son of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023) — was ordered to turn over his passport by controversial Supreme Court Justice Alexandre De Moraes. Report

Rep. Haley Stevens’s surprising decision to abandon the Democratic Party and endorse Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate running for Senate in Michigan, was widely interpreted as a slap across the face to Michigan Democrats, who chose Abdul El-Sayed over Stevens to run as their party’s candidate in the general election. Speculation about Stevens’s erratic behavior — endorsing El-Sayed and then shifting her endorsement to Rogers less than 48 hours before Election Day— has centered on the role p

Solid red South Carolina hasn’t elected a Democratic senator this century. But in the race between Republican. Darline Graham and her Democratic challenger, it’s now a draw.The New York Times called the race a toss-up on Wednesday, with Graham, the sister of the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Democrat Annie Andrews both receiving 48% in their latest poll. Fox News made the same call on Thursday.Democratic Senate candidates in the state don’t tie Republicans. But against the backdrop of

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had a dire warning for Michigan voters last Wednesday: Electing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed to the Senate could cost American lives.Speaking at a GOP campaign event in Grosse Pointe Woods, Cruz accused El-Sayed of being a “passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood,” warning that if he were elected and given a seat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, “there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result.”Several Republicans on next week’s midterm ballot spoke a

The Houthis’ lightning advances in Yemen have given Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates an opening to set aside their differences after a notable rupture over the country’s political makeup less than a year ago.However, even if a unified threat manages to bind them together, their unresolved disagreements over the future of Yemen could limit the effectiveness of renewed military cooperation against the Houthis and deepen fragmentation elsewhere in Yemen.At least for now, both countries hav

“Anything’s possible” was Donald Trump’s response when asked if he would launch a new attack on Iran after the midterm elections. Fears of what a return to all-out war would bring have set off a flurry of diplomacy. Two noteworthy tracks from European and regional powers have emerged as last-gasp attempts to prevent, or at least limit, the destruction a renewed conflict would cause. If they succeed, they could become the pillars of a new “coalition of the willing” to stabilise the Middle East wi

The Trump administration is carrying out a major shift in U.S. policy toward Myanmar.After the 2021 coup, the administration of former President Joe Biden demanded a return to democracy and sanctioned the military junta. Now, however, Washington is reportedly holding direct talks with the very people it accused of genocide in 2022. Trump had already given Gen. Min Aung Hlaing implicit recognition when he sent him a tariff letter in July 2025. Two weeks later, the U.S. Treasury removed several of

The Bunker appears originally at the Project on Government Oversight and is republished here with permission.The challenge: U.S. Navy carrier-based attack planes need enough range to strike enemy targets while keeping their huge carriers beyond the range of land-based enemy missiles. Check.This is where the U.S. Navy runs into rough seas. Each carrier (costing up to $20 billion including planes) and its 5,000 sailors make for a big, fat target. So the flattop has to turn up to a third of its rou

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s come-from-behind victory in the Brazilian election, to borrow a phrase, is not the end of the Donroe Doctrine, but it marks the end of the Donroe Doctrine’s beginning. For the first time since the second Trump administration began, Washington’s preferred election outcome in a Latin American country has not come to pass. Lula’s victory comes despite a determined U.S. government effort to shape the result in favor of Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former Brazilian Preside

A political group dedicated to supporting farmers is pouring millions of dollars into advertisements targeting Republican candidates over policies that have hurt agricultural communities, including the rising cost of living driven in part by President Donald Trump's tariffs and the war in Iran.The American Meat Producers Association's political action committee has spent roughly $2.9 million on ads targeting Republicans in Iowa, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, according to a report from R

Egypt's parliament has voted, after two postponements, to authorize President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to take “necessary measures” to help defend Saudi Arabia against the Houthis, the Iran-aligned group that controls much of Yemen and has spent weeks firing missiles and drones at the kingdom’s airports and fossil fuel infrastructure.It took weeks of debate in the halls of power for the parliament to ultimately give Sisi the greenlight. This is unusual given that the chamber is largely pro-governmen

During a meeting last week with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to help broker a deal to end the U.S.-Iran war.The proposal — the latest in a series of recent Russian offers to act as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran — has a certain logic to it. While the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has brought Russia some economic gains through rising energy prices, Moscow fears further escalation and spillover across the Persian Gulf and parts of the former Soviet s

Jordan’s relationship with the United States is a tale of two cities. On the one hand, security cooperation between the two countries is excellent. Thousands of U.S. troops are deployed in the Hashemite Kingdom, with King Abdullah II rebuffing Iranian demands to expel U.S. military installations from the country. Shortly before the Iran war began last February 28 and during its first weeks, the United States transferred many of its soldiers from Arab Gulf countries to perceived safer areas in Jo

Despite an aggressive U.S. pressure campaign, the United Nations General Assembly voted for the 34th time on Wednesday to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba, with 130 nations voting in favor of the resolution, 25 abstaining, and 17 countries, including the U.S. and Israel, voting against.The Trump administration’s diplomatic push against the annual resolution — spearheaded by U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz — has been even more intense than last year’s. It also came on the heels of similarl

The good folks at Activision and Infinity Ward have outdone themselves this time.For more than two decades, Call of Duty has dominated the world of first-person shooter games, selling more than 500 million copies worldwide. What began in 2003 as a gripping, cinematic rendition of some of World War II's most heroic battles has gradually morphed into an immersive Beltway military fantasy in which millions of players experience the world of geopolitics through Washington's eyes, complete with its f

There was a time when Europe was serious about diplomacy — diplomacy as the patient, often frustrating business of engaging adversaries, rather than merely issuing condemnations and imposing sanctions.Ten years ago, on October 25, 2016, the European Parliament adopted a report on relations with Iran that embodied precisely this understanding of statecraft. Drafted under the leadership of British MEP Richard Howitt, it offered a forward-looking strategy for engaging Tehran following the conclusio

The story of the Ukraine war is one of “wonder weapons” and their failure to deliver. First it was HIMARS. Then the Abrams tank. Then F-16s. Then ATACMS. Over and over, Kyiv and its backers have issued urgent demands for a new weapon or capability billed as the key to turning the tide of the war in Ukraine’s favor. Each time, after protesting, the U.S. chose to give in. And each time, the promised silver bullet failed to solve Kyiv’s battlefield challenges. Now, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zel

Before 1986, a city named Reykjavík was best remembered for the “Match of the Century.” International eyes fixated on Iceland’s capital for the World Chess Championship of 1972. The American prodigy Bobby Fischer dethroned the USSR’s defending champ Boris Spassky, ending a quarter-century of Soviet chess domination. Meanwhile on the global chessboard, the Cold War, with its mind-boggling defense budgets and ICBM stockpiles, continued.Fourteen years later, Reykjavík became synonymous with a diffe

Angelenos are in for a treat. Some little-known but extraordinarily-consequential history is being presented in an absolutely riveting 50-actor immersive play aptly titled “Convention,” which opened at Hollywood’s Industry Loft on October 16. The play asks the audience to imagine how different — how much better, more peaceful, and more prosperous — the world would have been if there had been no atomic bombings in World War II and no Cold War; if we had ended colonialism in 1945 and France and th