Secretary of State John Kerry has lost several heavy hitters to his opposing centers of power- the Vice President’s office …
State Department
Kerry: An Outsider Finally Gets In
From stone-throwing protester to law-making senator; from an awkward loner to the darling of his colleagues; and now from critic to champion of Obama foreign policy, Kerry has always moved outside-in.
“Strategic Ambiguity,” Indeed
You would think, given Taiwan’s role as the most likely flashpoint in relations between the U.S. and China, that the faux U.S. embassy in Taipei, and its Washington outpost, would be well-oiled operations. You’d presume there would be bright and clear lines of authority and command to ensure diplomatic kerfuffles don’t turn …
Turns Out the Marines Had Ammo…
The report Thursday that Marines in Cairo lacked ammo as their embassy came under attack was not accurate.
An overnight dispatch from longtime DIA analyst John McCreary on his NightWatch blog cited unidentified Marine blogs as the source for the claims.
The report quickly went viral. But based on reporting all day Thursday, it’s …
“assuming we don't die tonight. We saw one of our 'police' that guard the compound taking pictures”
To The Shores of Benghazi…
The news of the killing of Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, in an attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi is bitter. It was Benghazi, after all, that was the heart of the Libyan revolution last year. Libyan leader …
The U.S.: Arms Merchant to the Developing World
The Congressional Research Service’s latest annual compendium of global arms sales shows the U.S. to be the behemoth when it comes to such commerce. Some highlights:
— Per the pie chart, the U.S. accounted for 79% of the
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“For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside.”
“I know the American people are tired of paying the cost, in blood and treasure, of these wars that we get into that sometimes do not represent a direct national security threat to the United States.”
“The United States will request from our Congress assistance for Afghanistan at or near the levels of the past decade through the year 2017.”
$1,800
The Defense Build-Down is On, But Fantasies Remain
Marine General John Allen, commander of forces in Afghanistan, is planning for the end – the withdrawal of U.S. forces, expecting to leave behind a small training force, but saddling the U.S. taxpayers with at least $2 billion a year to pay for the Afghan security force. Better deal than we have now, at roughly $100 billion a year, …
An $80 Million Sitting Duck
The U.S. has abandoned its just-finished consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif after spending $80 million outfitting the former hotel as a symbol of U.S. resoluteness. This is the kind of fiasco that tends to …