Lionel Beehner is a term member and former senior writer at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he wrote about Iraq, Iran, and the former Soviet Union. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, Guardian Online, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, The New Republic Online, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Russia Journal, Kiev Post, Seed, New York, and Worth Magazine. He is a member of USA Today's Board of Contributors. His commentary has appeared on NPR's All Things Considered, CNN International, BBC Radio, CNBC's Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, CBC, Bloomberg TV, and Voice of America, as well as in publications like the New York Times Magazine, Washington Times, Newsweek International, Weekly Standard, and San Francisco Chronicle. He teaches Op-Ed Writing at Mediabistro.com. He was the 2006 recipient of a German Marshall Fund journalism fellowship for a research project on post-Soviet youth movements in Ukraine and Belarus. He holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Blog Entries by Lionel Beehner

Why A Maximalist Af-Pak Policy Will Not Work

45 Comments | Posted November 10, 2009 | 11:35 AM (EST)


It's unbelievable, really. The US military is holding up Iraq as a model for Afghanistan. They'll tell you it took a few years to get right but by golly, Iraq is at peace with itself, with a large armed forces, a democratically elected government, and commerce flourishing. Let's replicate that...

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The Audacity Of Obama's Foreign Policy

5 Comments | Posted November 3, 2009 | 12:52 PM (EST)


To those who thought Obama would end all war, wipe out global poverty, save the environment, and eradicate terrorism in one fell swoop, they will be sadly disappointed by this earthling-like leader of the free world's slacker performance.

But Obama's foreign policy has not been half bad. He has...

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Why Dictators Tend to Babble

55 Comments | Posted September 24, 2009 | 09:42 AM (EST)


Moammar Gadhafi droned on for 90 minutes yesterday in rambling prose barely befitting a head of state. Later up to the lectern was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who also gave long-winded remarks that wandered from topic to topic, desperately searching for a point. Mikhail Gorbachev was infamous for his preachiness. And Cuba's...

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Bad Timing for a Broadway Show

248 Comments | Posted June 1, 2009 | 02:17 PM (EST)


At least when George W. Bush goofed off, he was seen busily clearing brush or running on a treadmill. His successor takes in a fancy West Village meal followed by a Broadway show. There is nothing wrong with a night on the town now and then but Obama seems to...

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Sorry, We Are All Plagiarists

111 Comments | Posted May 19, 2009 | 10:10 AM (EST)


Maureen Dowd plagiarized. Goodness gracious, let's take her out back to the woodshed and make her repent.

Wait, let's not. We all plagiarize. I've read now a half dozen articles about Dowd's plagiarism. Every one of them mentioned the irony of how Dowd exposed Biden's plagiarism way back when,...

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Need Another 100 Days To Grade Obama's Foreign Policy

5 Comments | Posted April 28, 2009 | 07:24 PM (EST)


Obama has had a remarkably productive first 100 days on the foreign policy front. He has sought to rebuild fractured alliances, toss out bad acronyms (GWOT, among others), and restore America's tattered image abroad, even if it means having grip-and-grin sessions with adversaries. It's hard not to like what I...

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Obama's Counterproductive South Asian Strategy

Posted January 29, 2009 | 11:09 AM (EST)


Hmm, Obama says he'll shake hands with autocrats if they unclench their fists. Trouble is the new president's hands, like those of his predecessor, are already stained with blood. A series of American unmanned predator drones has reportedly killed a few dozen Pakistanis.

When pressed on the issue, his normally...

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Should Tom Friedman Get Canned Along With Kristol?

Posted January 27, 2009 | 11:48 AM (EST)


There is rejoicing that William Kristol was given a pink slip from the Grey Lady. After all, his columns read like they were written by a Weekly Standard copy boy, not a distinguished opinion-maker. But there are more and more murmurs percolating online that Thomas Friedman's column should get the...

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Anybody Know What 'Smart Power' Means?

Posted January 23, 2009 | 11:15 AM (EST)


Hand it to Hillary Clinton. She's managed to sum up the bold new direction of US foreign policy into a bumper-friendly catchphrase: smart power. Sufficiently vague, the phrase is remarkable for its meaninglessness. Ostensibly it combines "hard" with "soft" power, a win-win policy that will wow the pants off the...

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What Ukraine's Gas Crisis Has In Common With Gaza

Posted January 8, 2009 | 03:34 PM (EST)


When asked by Martin Scorsese to tone down his mobster character in The Departed, Jack Nicholson is said to have told the director, "I don't do subtle." The same could be said for Israel and Russia, which both find themselves in the familiar position of being accused of bullying their...

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Did Israel Use Disproportionate Force?

Posted December 31, 2008 | 09:49 AM (EST)


Once again Israel is under fire for using disproportionate force in response to Hamas rocket fire from Gaza. Israeli bombs have left hundreds of Palestinians dead, the bulk of them Hamas militants but dozens of citizens have died as well. So is Israel justified in its retaliation or did it...

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Obama's Uninspiring National Security Team

Posted December 2, 2008 | 12:34 AM (EST)


Pardon the metaphor, but Obama is trying to put lipstick on the pig that is US foreign policy. His national security team looks no less hawkish than the team assembled during Bush's second term. If I may ask, how is Hillary Clinton signing a communiqué or Robert Gates asking for...

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When Randy Met Sarah

Posted November 7, 2008 | 11:18 AM (EST)


I am baffled by Randy Scheunemann's weird infatuation with Sarah Palin. Was it her winking that won over the bearded neo-con? Her utter lack of curiosity about foreign affairs, which probably could earn her an endowed chair at a right-wing think tank?

His efforts to cosset the vice presidential...

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Obama's Grammatically Incorrect Election Victory

Posted November 6, 2008 | 11:10 AM (EST)


Over munchies at Obama headquarters in downtown Cleveland, shouts of "Yes, we did!" broke out among the ballroom of supporters. The chant was supposed to be a past simple version of Obama's campaign slogan --"Yes, we can!" -- made famous for energizing supporters in the present tense with an optimistic...

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Please Stop With The Main Street-Versus-Wall Street Rhetoric

Posted October 13, 2008 | 11:24 PM (EST)


Political candidates across this great country of ours, I ask you -- nay, I beg you: Can you please put a moratorium on the words "Main Street" and "Wall Street" in the same sentence? I know it won't be easy (Gosh, I even enjoyed writing that last line). Surely the...

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The Case for Not Going Negative

Posted October 7, 2008 | 09:13 AM (EST)


So if Barack Obama cavorts with terrorists (Bill Ayers) and John McCain runs around with lobbyists (Charles Keating), why bother vote -- since both candidates will bring Armageddon to the American Dream as we know it?

That is the feeling among a wide swath of the undecided electorate, who...

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Obama's Ideas on Foreign Policy Lack Luster

Posted September 30, 2008 | 05:10 PM (EST)


My living room, like many I imagine, fell silent after last Friday's presidential debate ticked to a close. The question on everyone's mind: Why had Obama not delivered the knock-out punch?

Here's my take, even though it pains me to say it: On foreign policy, Obama appears to have no...

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Why The Candidates Shouldn't Care What Kissinger Thinks

Posted September 29, 2008 | 11:20 AM (EST)


Henry Kissinger is again front and center in the news. A few days after sharing the spotlight with Sarah Palin, he got not one but five shout-outs in the first of three presidential debates. At a Council on Foreign Relations discussion last week, the normally diplomatic Russian Foreign Minister...

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Palin Meets Heads of State, Becomes Foreign Policy Expert

Posted September 24, 2008 | 10:21 AM (EST)


Make no mistake: Sarah Palin is up to speed on the world beyond Alaska's shores. What takes most of us years to learn--from travel, from meeting folks with funny-sounding accents, from reading, you know, books--she gleaned in a few sit-downs with heads of state and Henry Kissinger. She now can...

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Bush Embraces 'Obama Doctrine' to Bomb Pakistan

Posted September 17, 2008 | 11:01 AM (EST)


By authorizing U.S. strikes against terrorists and Taliban rebels in Pakistan, President Bush has firmly embraced the Obama Doctrine. The Illinois senator laid out his views on the matter last fall, when he said he would authorize strikes--if supplied with actionable intelligence--against Pakistan if President Musharraf failed to rein in...

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