This observation, famously made by Talleyrand at the Congress of Vienna as the powers debated the fate of the turncoat King of Saxony, reminded the crowned heads of Europe that all of them had at one time or another worked with Napoleon.  Talleyrand himself had served the emperor as foreign minister and trusted ally before […]

“Do not even think about bombing Iran,” wrote Michael O’Hanlon and Bruce Reidel in yesterday’s Financial Times.  Pointing out that the US has two unpopular and unfinished wars in the region already, and that the damage from any military strikes on the Islamic Republic would be unlikely to do enough damage to its nuclear program […]

After a rough week of paper grading, family visits and writing capsule reviews for Foreign Affairs, I’m getting back to an ambitious blogging schedule.  I’m working on a post about war with Iran that should be up by morning, planning a look at the state of the climate change movement following Al Gore’s typically unreflective […]

Recently, on a trip to Washington, D.C., I stopped by the offices of The American Interest and sat down to discuss the Tea Party movement in the context of historical American populism, something I wrote about in my recent post, “Do Soldiers Drink Tea?“.Subscribe to The American Interest podcasts through iTunes here.)

How to lower both the prison population and crime—at the same time.

The Federal government does too much, and thus does it poorly.

America needs fewer boots on the ground in the Persian Gulf region.

Five major narratives have arisen to grasp the meaning of 9/11.
It matters which ones we choose.

Big changes and important decisions are on the horizon in Iraq.

Daniel Jonah Goldhagen’s new book is too much of a good thing.