Section: Cato Institute (USA)
Is Russia Really ‘Winning’?
Emma Ashford On last Friday, Vladimir Putin held his annual press conference, capping what many have described as an extremely successful year for the Russian president. Indeed, if you’re a regular consumer of today’s media, you could be forgiven for believing that Russia has supplanted the United States in the Middle East, that...
John McCain Is Wrong about the Russia Hack
Doug Bandow For someone who has served in war, Sen. John McCain is easily shocked. He has joined the chorus in Washington protesting Russia’s alleged hacking of the Democrats. He and his colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham are pressing for an investigation by a newly-constituted select congressional committee. McCain naturally blamed President...
Rex Tillerson Might Make Good Deals. But for Whom?
Emma Ashford Donald Trump’s cabinet of generals and billionaires looks poised to gain another controversial member: Rex Tillerson. The CEO of ExxonMobil is now the secretary of state nominee. His nomination raises several red flags, but the central one is: conflicts of interest. In that, he’s a perfect match for the Trump...
Trump’s Team Should Ditch the ‘Clash of Civilizations’
Emma Ashford If there is one common thread that connects President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign-policy appointments, it is the belief that the United States is engaged in a civilizational war against “radical Islamic terrorism.” Indeed, while Trump himself—with his ambivalence towards books—may not even know it, the incoming administration...
Lame Duck Senate Shouldn’t Ratify NATO’s Inclusion of Corrupt, Military Midget Montenegro
Doug Bandow Historically countries made alliances to improve their defense or otherwise advance important security interests. In contrast, the U.S. uses NATO as a form of international welfare, inducting nations with little military capability or even economic strength. The latest recipient of defense charity is expected to be Montenegro, whose...
Donald Trump Should Stand up for Americans by Giving NATO to the Europeans
Doug Bandow The election had barely been called for Donald Trump when he came under pressure to back away from his most important promises. For instance, he questioned U.S. subsidies for the defense of prosperous, populous Europe and criticized NATO as “obsolete.” But after President Barack Obama met with Trump, the former assured Europeans of...
Donald Trump Is about to Become America’s President. Here’s What His Foreign Policy Should Be.
Doug Bandow Few people expected there to be a President-elect Donald Trump. Winning the election wasn’t easy. Governing will be much tougher. Although the Americans who voted for him likely are most interested in domestic and economic reform, international challenges are likely to prove more pressing. Indeed, the world may be messier in...
Why Russia Fears NATO
Ted Galen Carpenter Adam Twardowski takes umbrage at arguments that I and other members of the realism and restraint camp have made that NATO’s behavior over the past two decades has exacerbated tensions with Russia. He begins his rebuttal with a drive-by smear that is increasingly in vogue among neoconservatives, dismissing such arguments...
Gary Johnson’s ‘Aleppo Moments’ Don’t Undo a Smart, Libertarian Foreign-Policy Platform
Emma Ashford Gary Johnson did it again. Upon being asked to name a world leader he admired, the Libertarian candidate for president flubbed, unable to name a single one. “I guess I’m having an Aleppo moment,” he admitted, harking back to his last big misstep, when he proved unable to identify the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, site of one...
Hillary Clinton Never Met a War She Didn’t Want Other Americans to Fight
Doug Bandow Never before were the two leading presidential candidates so disliked. Both major parties have nominated candidates that most Americans desperately want to reject. There many reasons to oppose Hillary Clinton: a history of scandal, reaching back to Bill Clinton’s Arkansas governorship; greedy, grasping friendships with economic...
