Section: Cato Institute (USA)
Trump Should Copy Richard Nixon by Separating China and Russia
Doug Bandow Perhaps the greatest evidence of the hubris surrounding uberhawks of both neoconservative and liberal interventionist nature is their willingness, even determination, to make multiple enemies simultaneously around the globe. Hence their constant refrain that the world is dangerous and military spending must go up, ever up. Yet if the...
Goodbye Susan Rice, Hello National Security Options
Doug Bandow National Security Adviser Susan Rice needs a long rest. She recently stated that she didn’t “have the luxury of focusing on” only three nations, as suggested by the Washington Post in an interview. After a reporter (presumably jokingly) asked about Canada, she replied that it was one of the few countries on the planet that she...
Trump and U.S. Alliances
Doug Bandow The lackluster military spending of European countries has been a source of constant complaint for U.S. officials in recent years. Yet most of Washington’s demands for action have lacked credibility, since no U.S. administration has ever penalized a European state for slacking on defense. Instead, U.S. officials have typically...
Bungled Intervention in Kosovo Risks Unraveling: a New Deal Needed for Peace
Doug Bandow Washington’s policy in the Balkans never made much sense. The U.S. wanted to keep some nations together and dismantle others. American officials deplored ethnic cleansing in some cases and ignored other instances. The only principle which explained Washington’s actions was that the Serbs always lose. With Kosovo and Serbia...
Don’t Add Montenegro to ‘Obsolete’ NATO: Senate Shouldn’t Sacrifice U.S. Security for Balkan Mouse
Doug Bandow To the shock of European leaders, President-elect Donald Trump has reiterated his attack on NATO as “obsolete.” He’s right. The U.S. once created military alliances to advance its own security. These days, however, Washington treats them like social organizations, which every nation should be invited to join, irrespective of...
Time for a European Nuclear Deterrent?
Doug Bandow After spending a quarter century treating NATO as an international social club to which every reasonably civilized European nation should belong, the alliance has begun to focus again on its original role as a military alliance. Rather than expect the United States to burnish NATO’s nuclear deterrent, European nations should...
Kuwait Needs Economic Reform, but Opponents Dominated National Assembly Election
Doug Bandow Kuwait City, Kuwait—Kuwait is one of the freest nations in the Persian Gulf, as well as one of America’s best friends. Yet its “liberalish” governance, as one Kuwaiti colleague described it, ironically impedes the adoption of market-oriented economic reforms necessary for the country’s prosperity. The latest election for...
What Trump Should Understand about China and North Korea
Doug Bandow In barely two weeks Americans will learn whether Donald Trump is as smart as he claims. He triumphed over the odds to win the presidency and most of his staff picks so far look serious. But his tweets continue to raise some interesting questions. The president-elect’s recent Twitter strike was on China and North Korea. He seems...
Newsflash: Russia Is Not the Soviet Union
Doug Bandow No position taken by President-elect Donald Trump more upsets leading Republican legislators than his desire to reconcile with Russia. GOP leaders routinely assert that 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney was right when he declared Russia “without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe.” Perhaps in Neoconservative nightmares. But not...
McCain Easily Shocked by Alleged Russian Meddling
Doug Bandow For someone who has served in war, Sen. John McCain is easily shocked. He has joined the wailing and gnashing of teeth filling Washington over Russia’s alleged hacking of the Democrats. He and his war-happy colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham are pressing for an investigation by a newly constituted select congressional committee....
