Brattleboro Reformer
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It was a decidedly down year for democracy across the globe. From the battlefields of eastern Ukraine to the smouldering conflicts in south and southeast Asia to the coup-infected states of sub-Saharan Africa to America’s gunboat diplomacy in the Caribbean, the putative gold standard of representative government took a beating over the past twelve months.
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The world is brimming with crises. Leaders across the globe are burning the midnight oil, trying to find acceptable solutions to seemingly intractable strategic dilemmas, from the ongoing bloodshed in the historic lands of Kievan Rus to the unsettled prospects for a lasting peace in the Middle East to the dangerous sabre-rattling between Tokyo and
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This is the final article in a four-part series on U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century, the focus of which is to explain how America went from being the self-proclaimed “indispensable” leader of the free world in the 1990s to today’s more conflicted and introspective great power. Nine years ago, when Donald Trump was
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This is the third in a four-part series on U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century, the focus of which will be to explain how America went from being the self-proclaimed “indispensable” leader of the free world in the 1990s to today’s more conflicted, hesitant, and introspective great power. “I’ve come here to Cairo to
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As we approach the second anniversary of Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel, it seems an appropriate time to take the pulse of the state of justice in the world. Starting in the Middle East, what began as a very legitimate Israeli operation against the Palestinian terrorist group has spun dangerously out of control. Israeli Prime
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On the afternoon of August 22 at a White House ceremony, the US president wore an unsavory red hat emblazoned with “Trump Was Right About Everything.” Aside from the sartorial incongruence of presiding over an official event at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a hat better suited for a fishing derby or dollar beer night at
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“This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait.” President George H.W. Bush made this statement 35 years ago, on August 5, 1990, a mere three days after Saddam Hussein had unleashed his massive army on Kuwait. The predmediated lightning strike by Baghdad’s forces quickly engulfed the small, Persian gulf state, sending oil prices skyward and
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This is the second in a four-part series on U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century, the focus of which will be to explain how America went from being the self-proclaimed “indispensable” leader of the free world in the 1990s to today’s more conflicted, hesitant, and introspective great power. In a national security council meeting
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In an interview in the June 2025 edition of the Atlantic magazine, President Trump boasted of his second term, “I run the country and the world.” While our putative American Caesar may believe he possesses illimitable power on the global scene, a series of international elections since his inauguration have cast doubt on the veracity
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“”We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.” So proclaimed Donald Trump during his inaugural address, a mere five months ago, portraying himself as a noble combination of strongman and peacemaker. The administration’s
Bob Beck's Foreign Policy Blog 