The Benghazi Hearings We Need

Katrina vanden Heuvel Washington Post
What’s tragic about the Benghazi hearings is that they displace the serious inquiries that we desperately need about the direction of our foreign policy. President Obama pledged to bring the war on terror to an end, remove troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and operate a lawful foreign policy. He has retreated on all these goals. We need a thoughtful reassessment of national security priorities and a critical review of the militarization of our foreign policy.

After Obama: Clinton vs. Sanders

John Feffer http://fpif.org/after-obama-clinton-vs-sanders/
Hillary Clinton just laid out a hawkish foreign policy vision in a major speech. How do her views stack up against those of Bernie Sanders, her challenger from the left?

The Power of False Narrative

Robert Parry Common Dreams; Consortium News
“Strategic communications” or Stratcom, a propaganda/psy-op technique that treats information as a “soft power” weapon to wield against adversaries, is a new catch phrase in an Official Washington obsessed with the clout that comes from spinning false narratives, reports Robert Parry.

The Case for Pragmatism in International Affairs

Robert Parry ConsortiumNews
America’s neoconservatives and their liberal interventionist sidekicks have pushed an aggressive “regime change” strategy that has left bloody chaos in their wake. The cumulative impact, including Mideast refugees flooding Europe and overuse of sanctions, is now contributing to a global economic crisis. According to columnist Robert Parry, international pragmatism, including working with adversaries, may be the only way to prevent a devastating financial crash.

The Surge Fallacy

Peter Beinart The Atlantic
Having misunderstood the Iraq War, U.S. Republicans are taking a dangerously hawkish turn on foreign policy.

books

Wising Up to the Wise Men of American Foreign Policy

Jeet Heer New Republic
Propping up dictators, rigging elections and aligning with some of the world's more unsavory characters is an accurate description of U.S. foreign policy past and present. It's also a fair characterization of the narrow gamut of thinking for both the wise oracles who urge containment and the hawks promoting armed confrontation. The book focuses on these elite policy makers who have become not just complacent with, but complicit in, U.S. hegemonic crimes worldwide.

The Iranian Nuclear Deal: What the Experts Are Saying

David Corn Mother Jones
There are plenty of tough and complicated details to sort out. The deal may fall apart, especially with conservatives in both Washington and Tehran-and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his crew-sniping away and looking to subvert any agreement. But as the heated debate continues, it will be important that nonproliferation experts play a critical role in the discourse. Science-based statements, not snarky sound bites, should be the weapons of choice.
Subscribe to foreign policy