Forging a Better Partnership with Guatemala
Guatemala could become a key partner in the US efforts to manage migration flows from Central and South America. Looking ahead, whoever is elected the next president of the United States, either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, will look to Guatemala to help manage migration in the countries south of Mexico. Guatemala has been a […]
Time to Repeal Jackson-Vanik in Central Asia
Jackson-Vanik was a cornerstone of the US response to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. But it is time for Congress to remove this outdated policy in order to strengthen relationships with Central Asia and present a US commercial alternative to Russia and China. The Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the Trade Act of 1974 denied US […]
Out of Division, Strength
In the tumult that always accompanies a US presidential election – with each side fearing the end of “democracy” or “America” if the other side prevails – some Americans have lost sight of what admirers see clearly from afar: A remarkable, resilient country on which turns the hopes and inspirations of the world. Every US presidential election is billed as “the most consequential […]
Compete with China by Reviving the Generalized System of Preferences
The United States needs to urgently reinstate the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the country’s largest and oldest trade preference program. First implemented in 1976, GSP was designed to facilitate economic growth in developing countries by allowing certain products, such as jewelry, carpets, some agricultural and fishery products, and many types of chemicals and minerals, […]
America the Unprepared
The principal product of Washington D.C. is words. They come in three different kinds of packages: memoranda, by which government departments and organizations communicate internally; op-ed articles, by which these various groups communicate with each other and the public; and reports, usually compiled under the auspices of people with expertise in the subject being addressed. […]
A Guide to Harris’ Foreign Policy
How will Kamala Harris conduct foreign policy if she becomes president in January 2025? Would she hew to traditional Democratic Party stands on dealing with authoritarian regimes, climate change and foreign alliances? Or will she veer off in unpredictable directions? One obvious place to try and answer this question might be to explore Harris’ own […]
The Trump II Administration and the Iranian Nuclear Challenge
The world is on fire with two major wars in Europe and the Middle East and Iran has a malign involvement in both. As a party to the Beijing-Moscow-Tehran axis it supports Russia in its aggression against Ukraine. Iran has fueled conflict through its proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, threatening America’s close ally, Israel, […]
Freedom is the Surest Path to Prosperity
The Global South has a choice between a freedom-based and an authoritarian development model. External powers led by China and Russia promote the latter in, for example, Sub-Saharan Africa, by far the least developed region of the world.
Falling in Love with the Constitution in America and Israel
An Interview with Yuval Levin
An Interview with Yuval Levin
The United States is a country riven by political and cultural fractures and tensions. And in the present day, the American Constitution is as much a source of vexation as it is of inspiration. Timely, indeed, is a new book by Yuval Levin, a 47-year-old, Israeli-born political scientist who is the director of social, cultural […]
Helping Paraguay Become a Stronger US Ally
Paraguay is at a hinge moment in its history, with the election last year of a new president. With small steps, the United States could make a significant difference. This collaboration would both enhance Paraguay’s development and its status as a US ally. The country’s biggest constraint, however, is corruption. and more engagement from the […]
The Anti-Establishment Rises in Europe and America
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 […]
An ‘America First’ Democracy Support Agenda for the Next President
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 […]
The Biden-Trump Debate and Foreign Policy
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 […]
A Freedom Strategy for the Global South
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 […]
Eastern European Views of the Upcoming US Presidential Elections
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 […]
A European Plea to Biden
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 […]
How to Defeat the New Axis of Evil
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 […]
Iran’s "Controlled Insurgency" against the US in Syria and Iraq
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 […]
Biden's Decision and the American Military Deployment
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 […]
The Price of Greatness is Responsibility
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 […]
Where’s the Nearest Carrier?
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 […]
Afghanistan Two Years after the Taliban Take-over
On the two-year anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, JST asked five experts who worked in and on Afghanistan for their comments.
Should America and Israel Sign a Defense Treaty?
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 […]
The United States, Iran, and the Lessons of the Last War
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 New Great Game for Leadership in Asia
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 […]
Back to the Basics of Shared Values in the US-Israel Relationship
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, […]
How Would Republicans Conduct American Foreign Policy Today?
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 […]
Lessons We Should Have Learned from Vietnam
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.
Ukraine: The Supreme Foreign Policy Issue of the Biden Administration
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.
In Southeast Asia, the United States Needs to Up its Economic Game
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 […]
New World Disorder
A Letter From the Publisher
“Restraint” in Action: America and the Eastern Mediterranean
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.
Is Diplomacy A Profession?
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.
A Letter From the Publisher
“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.
A Jewish Response to Anti-Asian Prejudice
It is heartening to know that out of the tragedy of the pandemic can come something positive: a common stand
Israel and Palestine—What Can the US Do?
A hawkish Bennett and a weak Abbas are unlikely to bring about a solution. A third party—and new paradigms—are needed
America and the Syrian Tragedy
The US was never much interested in Syria. What pulled America in, and who has benefitted from the Syrian tragedy?
Is War Declining?
Is the world actually becoming more peaceful? And if so, why?
America’s Political Troubles
Washington is suffering from a severe case of political gridlock. Are internal divisions sapping American leadership?
Australia’s Submarine Decision
What made Australia withdraw from the contract it signed with France for advanced submarines?
Israel and the New American Landscape
Israel is far less of a bipartisan issue than it used to be. But there's something deeper going on in the US
Biden Must Stand With the People of Iran
A letter from the publisher: Biden must consider the plight of the Iranian people in negotiations with the regime
Dealing With a (Still) Hostile Iran
Five lessons to be learned from decades of ineffectual policies, and a cornered cat
The US and Pakistan—What Next After Afghanistan?
Will the roller coaster ride that is the US–Pakistan relationship become more “normal” now?
Afghanistan: The Ten Big Mistakes
America’s chaotic exit was merely the culmination of a series of major errors, going back to 2001
A Diplomatic Look Before We Leap
What Congress can do to improve the executive branch’s decision-making process
An Effective—and Coercive—Iran Strategy
The Biden administration seems to be on the wrong track. Here's what needs to change
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears
A pragmatic approach for the Biden administration's relations with Russia
A Promised Land
Literature review: The Obama memoir, like his presidency, over-promises and under-delivers
Biden’s Afghanistan Mistake
The lessons learned from the poorly managed US withdrawal, and its ramifications for foreign policy
President Biden and Israel
Biden is the last of his generation of Democrats. What does it say for the present—and future—of US–Israel ties?
Prospects of a Breakthrough in the Middle East
JST Debate: Voices from both sides of some of the most heated discussions of our time
America’s Technology Competition with China
Much hinges on Beijing’s expectation that time is on China’s side, but is that really the case?
Can America Regain Global Leadership?
A view from Singapore: How will Asian countries respond to Biden’s foreign policy?
Understanding US Strikes in Iraq and Syria
Iran’s primary strategic objective is to drive the US from the region
America and the Post-1945 World Order
The time has come to restore realist balance-of-power thinking to the center of international relations theory
With Twitter and Email, Do We Still Need Cables?
Neither email nor Twitter replaces the carefully drafted diplomatic dispatch
When America Creates a Vacuum, Others Fill It
America’s adversaries are not the only ones to respond to Washington’s changing regional priorities
Biden’s Conundrum
The political winds are blowing in an anti-China direction. Biden needs a sophisticated foreign policy strategy