US Policy

Across Europe, anti-establishment parties are winning stunning upsets, leaving center and center-left parties scrambling to forge alliances to avoid total political irrelevance.  In most of the 27 member countries of the EU, the early June elections for the European Parliament resulted in a large and historic victory for parties hostile to the status quo. In France, the National Rally, led by […]

Freedom and democracy have declined globally over the last two decades. This is bad for US security and prosperity, because autocracies hostile to the United States find more willing supporters among other autocrats. Furthermore, American companies trying to access markets of less-democratic developing nations face opaque regulatory regimes subject to the whims of unaccountable predatory […]

Looking like a figure out of Madame Tussauds wax museum as he gazed vacantly into the distance, the 81-year-old Joe Biden delivered a widely panned performance in the debate on June 27. A confrontation that was supposed to quell doubts about his fitness for the presidency only succeeded in amplifying them.  As Biden resists numerous calls […]

In the current cold war, the US and its allies in the Free World bloc are in a sharp contest with the authoritarian, revisionist, and expansionist bloc of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The stakes could not be higher. If the Free World loses this contest, the freedom, security, and prosperity of Americans and its […]

Despite Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Eastern Europeans feel secure today. They have confidence in NATO as an organization led by the United States and thus appreciated in Moscow as strong. At the same time, some politicians and diplomats in Eastern Europe wonder what might happen to their countries if Donald Trump wins the presidential elections […]

I admire America and feel nothing but deep respect and gratitude for it. Yes, I’m familiar with the reservations among many in Europe, ranging from Vietnam to Guantanamo, from the death penalty to the right to bear arms, from Afghanistan to the second Iraq war. My feelings for America are stronger. That’s because they are […]

Two blocs emerged after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Iran-backed terror in the Middle East: The Free World and the New Axis of Evil. By supporting each other, the countries of the New Axis of Evil are more dangerous together than they are separately. The Free World countries must design new policies to […]

In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7th and during Israel’s counter-offensive into Gaza, Iranian proxy militias in Iraq and Syria have escalated attacks on US positions in both countries. Fully 60 such attacks have taken place against US forces since October 7. 56 American personnel have suffered injuries in these attacks […]

The profound strategic implications of the American support for Israel in the war against Hamas – including a significant US military deployment to the region (two Carrier Strike Forces and an Ohio-class nuclear submarine, as well as air assets), albeit for the purpose of deterrence rather than participation in the fighting – will fully manifest […]

Usually, history’s turning points are invisible to the living.  Forks in the road are spotted by historians only long after events and their immediate repercussions have faded. But sometimes history visibly shifts for its participants onto a new course. We are now living through one of those turning points in history.  2023 was the year that […]

While onboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) in 1993, President Bill Clinton opined that when word of a crisis breaks out in Washington, it is no accident that the first question many people ask is: ”Where’s the nearest carrier?” President Bill Clinton aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt, March 12, 1993 Once again American history repeats itself. In the immediate aftermath […]

On the two-year anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, JST asked five experts who worked in and on Afghanistan for their comments.

A bilateral US-Israel “security deal” or defense treaty is back on the agenda of an Israeli government, according to the press. The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune asked three former senior Israeli officials for their views.  Hunting a Dangerous TrophyYair Golan Let us assume that Israel does put on the table a request for a formal defense […]

Generals, the old adage goes, are prone to fighting the last war.  Political leaders and the people they represent typically prefer to avoid armed conflict. They have heeded what they have believed to be the lessons of the most recent conflict in which they have been engaged, seeking, in effect, to avoid the last war. […]

The strategic complexion of Asia has shifted substantially in recent years. The United States is no longer the predominant military, diplomatic, and economic power across the region, as it was for the last half of the 20th century and the first decade of this century. China actively contests American leadership as it strives to restore […]

Recently, I was asked whether I might consider revising the book I wrote on the US-Israeli relationship entitled Doomed to Succeed. Turmoil in Israel, the most right-wing, religious government in Israel’s history, and President Biden’s decision to hold off inviting Prime Minister Netanyahu to Washington led to concerns about where the relationship might be headed, […]

The global order is changing rapidly. China is brokering normalization between Iran and Saudi Arabia while the United States brokers normalization between Arab states and Israel. Turkey and Russia are both antagonists and collaborators in multiple hot spots. Ukraine’s military is proving stronger than Russia’s. Alliances and friendships in the Indo-Pacific are coalescing against Chinese […]

With recent experiences of Iraq and Afghanistan in mind, three former US ambassadors look back at their earlier careers as infantry officers in Vietnam and offer the following lessons.

Putin’s threats intensify the dilemma that has haunted the Biden administration and has influenced the degree of its support for Ukraine, almost from the outset of the war.

One often hears that China is “winning” the competition with the United States in Southeast Asia. This strategically important region is home to 650 million people, and collectively is the world’s fifth largest economy and the US’s fourth largest export market. While serious competition is indeed a reality, it is not particularly useful to think […]

A Letter From the Publisher

Biden administration’s first foreign policy crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean merely conformed to the pattern of gradual American disengagement from a region that was once vital to US interests.

Ambassadorial positions should be filled with diplomats who meet the highest standards of the profession together with occasional non-professionals who bring a fresh perspective. But that is not how US diplomacy is generally staffed these days.

“In the midst of death, we are in life.” With stoic resolve, the words of that medieval prayer point toward a path of hope in times of trial.

It is heartening to know that out of the tragedy of the pandemic can come something positive: a common stand

A hawkish Bennett and a weak Abbas are unlikely to bring about a solution. A third party—and new paradigms—are needed

The US was never much interested in Syria. What pulled America in, and who has benefitted from the Syrian tragedy?

Is the world actually becoming more peaceful? And if so, why?

Washington is suffering from a severe case of political gridlock. Are internal divisions sapping American leadership?

What made Australia withdraw from the contract it signed with France for advanced submarines?

Israel is far less of a bipartisan issue than it used to be. But there's something deeper going on in the US

A letter from the publisher: Biden must consider the plight of the Iranian people in negotiations with the regime

Five lessons to be learned from decades of ineffectual policies, and a cornered cat

Will the roller coaster ride that is the US–Pakistan relationship become more “normal” now?

America’s chaotic exit was merely the culmination of a series of major errors, going back to 2001

What Congress can do to improve the executive branch’s decision-making process

The Biden administration seems to be on the wrong track. Here's what needs to change

A pragmatic approach for the Biden administration's relations with Russia

Literature review: The Obama memoir, like his presidency, over-promises and under-delivers

The lessons learned from the poorly managed US withdrawal, and its ramifications for foreign policy

Biden is the last of his generation of Democrats. What does it say for the present—and future—of US–Israel ties?

JST Debate: Voices from both sides of some of the most heated discussions of our time

Much hinges on Beijing’s expectation that time is on China’s side, but is that really the case?

A view from Singapore: How will Asian countries respond to Biden’s foreign policy?

Iran’s primary strategic objective is to drive the US from the region

The time has come to restore realist balance-of-power thinking to the center of international relations theory

Neither email nor Twitter replaces the carefully drafted diplomatic dispatch

America’s adversaries are not the only ones to respond to Washington’s changing regional priorities

The political winds are blowing in an anti-China direction. Biden needs a sophisticated foreign policy strategy