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An article in Foreign Affairs by Alexander Stubb, the President of Finland, stresses the importance of a country’s values to its role in international affairs. He says: Foreign policy is often based on three pillars: values, interests, and power. These three elements are key when the balance and dynamics of world order…

Ian Bremmer’s email regarding Trump’s new National Security Strategy echoes David Brooks’ article about the need for morality in America’s national life. Ian Bremmer writes: What’s most striking to me about this document isn’t any specific policies, but what it reveals about values. Increasingly, the United States and Europe don’t share them. This reflects…

David Brooks wrote in the Atlantic: So how can neoconservative thinking help us today? The first big lesson of neoconservatism is that character is destiny. That lesson applies whether you’re talking about the character of a leader, an organization, or a nation. If you disregard truth—as many Republicans plainly do these…

In an article in The Atlantic, Amb. Bill Burnes decries the damage done to the Foreign Service and other government institutions by the Trump administration. This is not about reform. It is about retribution. It is about breaking people and breaking institutions by sowing fear and mistrust throughout our government.…

The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) has issued a report, “At the Breaking Point” documenting the destructive measures taken against the Foreign Service and Foreign Service officers. Here is the executive summary of the report.

The Financial Times reports: What is unfold­ing now in Wash­ing­ton is more than a cor­rect­ive; it is a purge. The Trump admin­is­tra­tion’s con­tempt for the for­eign ser­vice is mani­fest in its lack­a­dais­ical approach to appoint­ments: ten months after it took office, a swath of senior posts remain unfilled, includ­ing assist­ant…

The Washington Post reports on a local reporter in a small southern Brazil who is obsessed with the presence of Nazis in the town after World War II. It is not surprising that there were Nazis in Brazil after the war. This story does not add anything new or different…

John Bolton has won me over as someone intelligent who cares about America. He was Assistant Secretary for International Organizations while I was still working at State, and I thought he was a right-wing nut. However, he turned out to be one of the most reasonable people in Trump’s first-term…

Bill Pulte’s attacks on Fed board member Lisa Cook are motivated in part by personal gain.  PulteGroup, which builds Pulte homes, is the third-largest homebuilder in America.  As part of the Pulte family, Bill Pulte stands to benefit from more home sales, which would increase if the Fed reduced interest…

If Israel is really serious about eliminating Hamas rather than killing all Palestinians, it should attack the Hamas tunnels under Gaza.  This is clearly much more dangerous for Israeli troops than bombing from above, but the US went into spider holes and tunnels in Vietnam and fought close-quarters, urban warfare…