Free Republic

A credible deterrent is designed to alter a potential aggressor’s calculations of risk and reward. Vladimir Putin determined that the potential cost of invading Ukraine was relatively low, and on Feb. 24 he attacked. It will be the job of historians to try to understand why deterrence failed. Deterrence involves two factors: capability and will. Capability means having the military strength to deliver intolerable damage to an adversary. Will is the determination to use that strength and deliver that damage. .....snip..... By signaling that the U.S. had no intention of using its capabilities, the Biden administration seriously weakened their deterrent...

Since the end of the Cold War, most U.S. policymakers have been beguiled by a set of illusions about the world order. On critical issues, they have seen the world as they wish it were and not how it really is. ....President Donald Trump, who is not a product of the American foreign policy community, does not labor under these illusions. Trump has been a disrupter, and his policies, informed by his heterodox perspective, have set in motion a series of long-overdue corrections.... Many of these necessary adjustments have been misrepresented or misunderstood in today’s vitriolic, partisan debates. But the...

Critics are letting their disdain for the president blind them to geopolitical realities. When a new coronavirus emerged in China and began spreading around the world, including in the United States, President Donald Trump’s many critics in the American foreign-policy establishment were quick to identify him as part of the problem. Trump had campaigned on an “America first” foreign policy, which after his victory was enshrined in the official National Security Strategy that his administration published in 2017. At the time, I served in the administration and orchestrated the writing of that document. In the years since, Trump has been...

President Trump’s new national security advisor is reportedly planning major staffing changes at the National Security Council. Sources close to the situation told Foreign Policy that John Bolton is preparing to “clean house” and remove nearly all of the political appointees brought in by his predecessor. “Bolton can and will clean house,” one former White House official told Foreign Policy. Another former official said that any National Security Council officials appointed under former President Obama “should start packing their shit.” Foreign Policy reported that Bolton is planning to remove dozens of current officials, with a focus on those who have...