Is President Obama's foreign policy toward Asia radically similar--or radically different--from that of previous administrations?
The Constitutional Presidency
September 9, 2009
Something important is missing in our treatment and understanding of the constitutional presidency, something that a careful analysis of Article II can help us uncover and recover.
Gary J. Schmitt reviews The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking, edited by Paul Dragos Aligica and Kenneth R. Weinstein.
How will a sea change in Japan's politics affect U.S.-Japanese relations? A bumpier road for sure, but opportunities as well.
A new study examines the efforts by British and Spanish governments at reconciling their own insurgencies to the existing political order.
AEI Online
August 3, 2009
This report is designed to help generate serious reflections on how best to preserve the ROC's own accomplishments as a people and a government and to enable it to choose its own future as free of coercion as possible.
While the Pentagon is being told to shut down programs, the Obama team is encouraging the rest of government to spend like drunken sailors.
Although there are many reasons for the existence of the "special relationship" between Washington and London, the cornerstone of that relationship from its first days has been shared "hard power" in the areas of intelligence and defense.
The Obama administration, in an effort to "hit the reset button" when it comes to relations between the two countries, has in fact hit the delete button when it comes to ties with friends and allies in the region.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates's new budget will leave us weaker to pay for the president's domestic programs.
Lower expectations regarding Afghanistan would lead to lesser results.
Defense programs have been conspicuously absent from all the talk of economic stimulus in the White House and on Capitol Hill.
In times of war, when U.S. security is threatened, presidents typically push their executive powers forward. This is something the Founders surely understood.
The Bush administration released a new set of attorney general guidelines for the FBI's domestic operations.
There are plenty of soft-power tools at hand for making Moscow pay a price for its actions in Georgia.
The United States should rush military and medical supplies to Tbilisi and aid Georgia.
A great movie like High Noon can still raise important questions and make us more reflective and better citizens.
Two recent books on American foreign affairs suggest that a dramatic shift in U.S. national security policy come January 2009 is both imprudent and unlikely.
The Bush administration blocked a major arms deal to Taiwan, effectively strengthening Beijing's influence in the region.
Yes, Ronald Reagan wanted to rid the world of nuclear weapons, but he was a stickler for verification.
The U.S. military has adjusted its tactics to become an effective force in Iraq and has been more successful with the implementation of the surge.
France is the world's most sophisticated practitioner of counterterrorism. TheUnited Statescan learn from her experience.
Do not look now, but our planes are falling out of the sky.
Celebration in Washington over the January 2008 election results for Taiwan's legislaturewould be premature.
AEI Online
January 9, 2008
Can crisis management literature help us prepare for managing a potential crisis between Taiwan and China?
A personalaccount of what really happenedin the story of Charlie Wilson's War.
Due to its failings, theForeign Intelligence Surveillance Act should be ammended tomaintain proper checks.
France's counterterrorism efforts are the most effective in the world. The United States would do well to adopt some of France's strategies.
President Bush has more options in Iraq than people think.
The UN breaks its own rules--again.
Is American foreign policy marked more by continuity or change, by hegemony or balancing?
China's behind-closed-doors military buildup reveals the full extent of its great power ambitions.
A new Senate Intelligence Committee report on prewar intelligence on Iraq is misleading and based onfaulty analysis.
Amidst tense relations with both the United States and mainland China, Taiwan picks its presidential candidates.
China stands poised to challenge U.S. primacy in the coming years.
A debate on the wisdom of global primacy.
The number of soldiers in the U.S. Army, both active and reserve, will continue to be a critical determinant of America's ability to win future wars and, above all, the peaces that follow them.
Taiwan views itself as less and less "Chinese," but Beijing does not take kindly to the distance.
The European reaction to Iran's nuclear threat could prevent the United Statesand Israel from attacking.
A more pro-American France--a surreal idea for many foreign-affairs practitioners in Washington--may not be that far off.
Would Seoul behave differently if Asia, like Europe, had a regional security organization committed to the survival of freedom and democracy?
AEI Online
October 31, 2006
Our military commitments demand substantial increases in defense spending.
Conventional wisdom misreads the nature of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nationalism and the positive effects it could have on Asia.
Conventional wisdom misreads the nature of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nationalism and the positive effects it could have on Asia.
As close as Polish and American relations are, Washington has been a bit slow to see that maintaining the relationship will require more effort on its part.
Washington has a vital interest in encouraging Taiwan to improve its defensive capabilities.
Treating the talks with North Korea as virtually an end in themselves has accentuated China's role in the region at the expense of our most important Pacific ally, Japan.
Chinese banks have become the world's largest ATMs for China's political and business elite.
If the British public wants "greater assurance against the possibility of attacks,""some increase in intrusive activity by the UK's intelligence and security Agencies is the inevitable consequence."
A review ofLawrenceFreedman's Deterrence.
Gary Schmitt examines the concept of China's theory of "peaceful rise."
AEI Online
April 13, 2006
There are steps Washington and its allies can take to significantly reduce the problems of energy security and national security associated with America's growing dependence on natural gas.
Even while attention was focused on the more positive theme of US-India relations, a potential new crisis was brewing elsewhere in Asia, this time around Beijing and Taipei.
A book review of Robert Lieber's, The American Era: Power and Strategy for the 21st Century.
Doing business with Beijing is one thing; allowing China to borrow and steal the technology that keeps us pre-eminent globally is just bad business.
Obviously there is no neat solution to the problem of power and responsibility.Oursystemis the worst possible solution--except for all others that have been tried.
Even as federal courts balance Fourth Amendment rights with security imperatives, they have upheld a president's "inherent authority" under the Constitution to acquire necessary intelligence.
Financial Times
December 5, 2005
The best thing Japan's friends can do is support the country's efforts to play a bigger role on the world stage--including its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
The 9/11 Commission's legacy when it comes to intelligence analysis may be much different from what the Commission intends.
The Future of American Intelligence
November 1, 2005
The idea that the Chen administration is not serious about defending Taiwan is largely a tale told by sinologists andofficials who wantan excuse for the problemof Taiwan to go away.
The United States is at a strategic crossroads when it comes to China, and not the other way around.
In light ofthe ongoing development of China’s military power,removing an outdated restriction on defense cooperation with Taiwan is a sensible step to take.
On his visit to China, KMT chairmanLien Chan will be discussing mattersthat fall clearly within the authority of the democratically elected government of Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian.
If we can provideIraq with security, Iraq has a good chance of creating a decent, representative government that takes its responsibilities at home and abroad seriously.
Does the United States have the right military strategy in place to defeat what its own generals admit is an increasingly sophisticated insurgency?
Are we willing to face the fact that most terrorism consists of acts of war being waged by identifiable nations?