Feature Stories
Neoconservative Resurgence in the Age of Obama
By Daniel Luban | Posted: August 26, 2009
Despite their political plunge, neoconservatives—and the think tanks that sustain them—have been surprisingly skilled at reinventing themselves and forcing the Obama administration to give them a seat at the table. They have choreographed a clever “carrots and sticks” dance—throwing support behind the president when he has taken positions compatible with their dogma, and excoriating him when he has contravened it. They have also proved adept at making alliances with the liberal interventionists, like those at the Center for a New American Security, who are strikingly influential in and out of the Obama administration.
Waiting for Obama
By Leon Hadar | Posted: July 29, 2009
Some Israelis fear that Barack Obama is the second coming of Charles de Gaulle—a leader of a powerful global patron who is willing to turn his back on the Jewish state if it goes to war with Arab neighbors. Thus far, however, the Obama administration has merely repeated long-held U.S. policy goals in the region, albeit ones that contrast sharply with the neoconservative-tendencies of the Bush presidency. As Middle East observers wait for Obama to launch his Middle East peace initiative in the coming months, they wonder, can the president fill the political vacuum in Israel and Palestine and start pressing the two sides to consider making painful compromises?
Why Iraq? The State of Debate on the Motives for the War
By Daniel Luban | Posted: May 19, 2009
Even as the Obama administration ramps up military engagement in Afghanistan, the motives for why the country went to war in Iraq remain clouded in debate. The Bush administration’s discredited public rationale, that the country was threatened by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, was at best only the tip of the iceberg, at worst a cynical attempt to cover up the actual motives for the war. A close inspection of the various arguments suggests that above all, the Iraq war was an extreme manifestation of a recent ideological tendency in U.S. foreign policy, and that the thinking that engendered it may not be fully in the rearview mirror.
Whither Af-Pak?
By Najum Mushtaq | Posted: April 16, 2009
The near simultaneous reappointment of a sacked Supreme Court judge and the signing of an agreement to allow Sharia courts in certain areas have created a bewildering judicial divide in Pakistan. In this battle of the courts, however, there is a real opportunity for President Obama to take a new approach toward Pakistan and depart from the disastrous path cut by President George W. Bush and his predecessors. But unless President Obama listens to the people of Pakistan and recognizes the currents of change in this traumatized country, the administration’s strategy of linking Pakistan and Afghan policy—the so-called Af-Pak plan—could spark a spiraling conflict with devastating, far-reaching repercussions
U.S.-Iranian Engagement: When and How?
Analysis by Ahmad Sadri | Posted: March 25, 2009
On Norouz, the day when Iranians celebrate the coming of spring and the new Iranian calendar year, President Barack Obama put the United States on a path to a fresh relationship with Iran. But given the upcoming Iranian presidential elections in June, the real question for the U.S. administration is when and how to further engage Iran. One thing is clear, the two countries have a number of shared concerns, which could provide them with a new basis for relations.
President Obama: A Realist Interventionist?
By Leon Hadar | Posted: January 28, 2009
President Barack Obama might turn out to be a foreign policy pragmatist, eschewing the grand strategies and big-label crusades that inspire the minds of Washington’s cognoscenti. After eight years of the Bush administration’s foreign policy fantasies, the notion of an Obama administration muddling through foreign policy choices should be welcomed, even by those who will inevitably be disappointed when Obama fails to live up to their high expectations.
Cheney: Master Bureaucrat
By Daniel Luban | Posted: December 21, 2008
Cheney has from the beginning served as the most aggressive hawk among the top administration leadership. His public pronouncements on the Iraq War have often gone farther than Bush himself was willing to. With secrecy and skill, Cheney used the Vice President’s office to unite the administration around shared goals of an aggressively nationalist foreign policy, a disdain for diplomacy, and an utterly unfettered executive power in time of war, as Barton Gellman documents in the recent biography Angler.
Neoconservatism in a New Era
By Nick Rogers | Posted: December 21, 2008
With change coming to Washington in the form of a new president who campaigned on a slate of foreign policies at loggerheads with the agenda championed by President George W. Bush, a burning question among many pundits is, “Whither the neocons?” Out of power and out of fashion, what exactly will be their post-Bush agenda? Prominent thinkers Joshua Muravchik and Michael Ledeen weigh in on how neocons should move forward and what some of their priorities might be in the future.
Green Security?
By Ali Gharib | Posted: November 30, 2008
Neoconservatives, despite their appreciable influence on President George W. Bush’s administration, have never numbered very many people. By forming tactical alliances and associations with groups like evangelical Christians and hardline nationalists to promote their policy goals, neocons became a powerful faction in Washington, D.C., especially after the 9/11 attacks. Now, with their influence clearly on the wane, some neocons seem to be trying to forge what might be their most unexpected alliance yet—with environmentalists.
Will Obama’s Change Come to Poor Corners of Kenya?
By Najum Mushtaq | Posted: November 11, 2008
Wracked by the devastation wrought in the violent aftermath of their own presidential election a year ago, Kenyans across the country’s tribal and religious divisions have rejoiced in Barack Obama’s presidential win in the United States. But the euphoria inspired by the obvious symbolism of the election of a U.S. president with Kenyan heritage is heavily tempered by the burdens of everyday life and the question of whether Obama has the will and wherewithal to stop the excesses of the U.S.-led “war on terror” in East Africa.
The Economic Crisis: Will Money Trump Ideology?
By Eli Clifton | Posted: October 28, 2008
The steep reversal of financial fortune for one of the most generous donors to hawkish causes could likely impact the ability of those causes to carry out their work. The fortune of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, a key backer of groups like Freedom’s Watch and the Likud agenda in Israel, has taken a hit from the global economic meltdown. Will megadonors like Adelson turn their attention to salvaging their business empires at the expense of the political agendas dear to their hearts?
Losing Pakistan’s Hearts and Minds—and the “War on Terror”
By Najum Mushtaq and Qurat-ul-Ain Sadozai | Posted: October 13, 2008
Pakistan is facing one of the worst internal crises in its history. The turmoil—intimately tied to the Bush administration's "war on terror"—is pushing Pakistani citizens against the tenuous U.S.-Pakistani alliance. The volatility of the relationship was underscored recently when members of U.S. and Pakistani forces exchanged fire. As U.S. strategists focus their military campaign on cross-border strikes against Taliban elements in Pakistani territory, they seem to be neglecting the plight of the average Pakistani. Without the hearts and minds of the population, Washington stands no chance of winning its war on terror on any front.
A Nowhere Foreign Policy Debate
By Leon Hadar | Posted: September 30, 2008
This year’s race to the White House has been billed as a thing of historic proportions, and in terms of who will end up in the Oval Office, it certainly...
Chairman Lieberman’s “War on Terror”
By Chip Berlet | Posted: September 16, 2008
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Independent Democrat from Connecticut who is closely affiliated with neoconservative-led advocacy efforts to push an expansive...
Going Soft on the Contractors?
By Nick Schwellenbach | Posted: September 03, 2008
The aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks proved a watershed moment for entrepreneurs intent on profiting from militarist U.S. foreign policies. The hawkish...
At A Crossroads with Syria
Interview by Daniel Luban | Posted: August 11, 2008
With ongoing peace talks between Israel and Syria, a new political settlement in Lebanon, and the specter of confrontation with Iran on the horizon, Middle...
Peace Not Near on Middle East’s “Time Horizon”
By Leon Hadar | Posted: July 29, 2008
Members of Washington’s band of foreign policy realists are high-fiving each other these days. First there was the news that the Bush administration...
North Korea: Hand-Wringing over Success
By John Isaacs | Posted: July 23, 2008
The same neoconservatives who dominated the Bush administration for almost eight years are now screaming like stuck pigs over the administration’s latest moves on North...
Blackwater: The Real “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy”?
By Ali Gharib | Posted: July 17, 2008
Businessmen with ties to the GOP and right-wing ideologies and pedigrees are not uncommon. What makes Erik Prince special is the confluence of his core...
Iran Sanctions Bill Could Undermine Diplomacy
Analysis by Carah Ong | Posted: July 09, 2008
With pressure on both houses of Congress to pass legislation imposing more sanctions against Iran, and without key opposition from the oil lobby, the Iran...
New Profiles
Natsios, Andrew
Andrew Natsios is a Romney foreign policy adviser and fellow at the neoconservative Hudson Institute who opposed the distribution of AIDS drugs in Africa as the Bush administration’s USAID director.
Lehman, John
John F. Lehman heads a private equity firm whose investment interests dovetail with his hawkish political advocacy, which has included supporting the presidential campaigns of John McCain and Mitt Romney, as well as the work of numerous neoconservative pressure groups.
Cohen, Eliot
A neoconservative academic based at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Cohen served as an adviser to President George W. Bush as well as to the 2012 Mitt Romney presidential campaign.
Carlucci, Frank
President Reagan’s Pentagon chief and an alleged conspirator in the assassination of former DRC Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, Frank Carlucci now serves as an attack dog for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.
Horner, Charles
China scholar Charles Horner, a fellow at the neoconservative Hudson Institute, see a looming conflict between China and the Islamic world.