John Kerry and Chuck Hagel have been at the helm of American foreign and security policy for some months now. Much was expected from new faces, new approaches and -- perhaps -- some new thinking. How are they doing? Any proposed answer, however tentative, depends on the standards used to...

"TERROR" is a word that terrorizes us. To pronounce it is to evoke fear and dread. Americans experience all the nightmarish sensations of 9/11. The visible horror of the Boston marathon bombings was intensified by the event's association with "terror" -- an abstract distillation of all that is alien and...

The errant actions of the C.I.A. are by now so evident that they are a staple of Washington conversation. Like the weather, though, it is the topic everybody talks about, but does nothing about. The drone revelations, and the administration's stonewalling, that coincided with John Brennan's confirmation hearings created a...

The chronicle of Europe's financial crisis has two themes. For the cognoscenti, it is the technocratic cum political challenge of managing a globalized financial network of great complexity by overmatched public authorities in Bruxelles, Frankfurt, and Berlin. The other is a morality play wherein the fiscally virtuous are endangered by...

Plutocracy in the current American style is having pernicious effects that go beyond the dominant influence of the rich on the nation's economy and government. It is setting precedents and modeling the unaccountability and irresponsibility that is pervading executive power throughout the society. Two successive presidential administrations and two decades...

The ultimate achievement of a plutocracy is to legitimize itself by fixing in the minds of society the idea that money is the measure of all things. It represents achievement, it is the sine qua non for giving people the material things they want. It is the gauge of an...

Plutocracy literally means rule by the rich. "Rule" can have various shades of meaning: those who exercise the authority of public office are wealthy; their wealth explains why they hold that office; they exercise that authority in the interests of the rich; they have the primary influence over who holds...

Drones are still hovering over the capital -- figuratively, for the time being. The images generated by Eric Holder's disquieting testimony and Rand Paul's filibuster are lingering. They have not ignited an uproar of protest against targeted assassinations, signature strikes or even the liquidating of American citizens when the White...

American actions in the greater Middle East over the past decade pose a unique challenge to the analyst. Understanding the thinking that goes into a particular policy decision or the calculations that lie behind a diplomatic strategy is always hard in Washington where the process normally is prolix and the...

Democrats are masters of illusion -- especially self-delusion. Their abject performance over the past few decades has shorn them of identity and conviction. They have lost on every front against a Republican opponent that has abandoned the mainstream in lurching far to the right. Their natural constituencies have been ravaged:...

Iran looms on the horizon. Resumption of technical talks with Iranian officials does not alter the gloomy outlook for resolution of the dispute's underlying issues. Sanctions clearly are not forcing Tehran leaders to yield to American demands. While there is no evidence that the Islamic Republic (IRI) has decided to...

Drones are the latest step in the application of high-tech electronics to armaments. The much heralded Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) first appeared on the world stage in the Gulf War of 1991, where precision-guided smart weapons were used with devastating effect. The ability to identify, target and strike with...

Assassination of American citizens by presidential dictate, blanket suspension of habeas corpus -- indefinitely, massive wiretapping and surveillance with and without warrant, torture as the official policy of the United States government -- these are trademarks of the "war on terror" pursued since 9/11. This despite the absence of a...

The bane of most policy debates is failure to define precisely and clearly what the problem is. The current debate on drone assassinations of U.S. citizens abroad and related issues vividly demonstrates that truth. The unspoken premise is that the country is menaced by powerful forces that could strike the...

Washington is abuzz with talk of secret kill lists, 'signature' drone strikes, rendition and torture. None of this is new -- except for the interest shown by some of our political class and some of the media. The occasion for this spark of interest is the appointment of John Brennan,...

Chuck Hagel let himself be mugged by a gang of Republican senators last Thursday. They demanded his watch (Iraq), he gave it to them. They demanded his wallet (Iran), he gave it to them. They demanded that his Last Will and Testament make Israel his sole beneficiary; he did it....

Les Français ont détruit et dispersé les jihadistes islamistes au Mali. Cela leur a pris trois semaines. Washington en reste stupéfait. Les "french fries" (frites) vont peut-être revenir au menu de la cafétéria du Congrès. Les ultra patriotes devront peut-être ôter de leur vocabulaire l'expression péjorative: "French surrender...

The French have shattered and scattered the Islamist jihadis in Mali. It has taken them three weeks. Washington is stunned. French Fries may be restored to Congressional cafeteria menus. Ultra-patriots may have to drop from their polemical vocabulary the pejorative "French surrender monkeys." There are even reports that some knowledge...

Zero Dark Thirty is writing our collective history for us -- engraving it on the American psyche. The graphic images of who we are and the deeds we have done are intended to inspire confidence and to soothe qualms -- now and in the future. We are a Resourceful people....

The most capable force among the insurgent coalition in Mali was trained by American Special Forces. That program began in 2008 under the auspices of the U.S. Army's African Command (United States Africa Command USAFRICOM or AFRICOM). Of the four elite units that acquired refined skills and sophisticated equipment, three...