FDD's Foreign Podicy

Negotiations between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran have not gone well. President Biden may soon have to choose between two unappealing options: allowing the theocratic regime to become a nuclear-weapons power or using military force to prevent that outcome. Mark Dubowitz, FDD’s chief executive, and Matthew Kroenig, a former senior policy advisor at the Pentagon, now a professo...

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) H.R. McMaster is a soldier and a scholar and, these days, a commentator – one might even say a pundit. His recent essay for  National Review  is titled:  “Preserving the Warrior Ethos”  – a contrarian theme in an age where the dominant culture valorizes victims and too many political leaders fail to grasp the nexus between military strength and diplomatic effectiveness. He discusse...

In recent years, it’s become apparent that the People’s Republic of China intends to eat America’s lunch. No one is more responsible for revealing that than Matthew Pottinger , a former journalist who went on to earn an honest living serving in the U.S. Marines, and, in the previous administration, as Deputy National Security Advisor. He’s currently a distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution...

On December 9th and 10th, President Biden hosted what he called the Summit for Democracy – a virtual conference to which he invited 110 governments. Three principal items on the agenda: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and advancing human rights. Did this “summit” make any progress or at least chart a way forward? What’s been the reaction from authoritarians, corrupt politi...

The People’s Republic of China recently tested an advanced new hypersonic glide vehicle that circles the Earth and is designed to evade U.S. defenses and conduct a nuclear attack against the American homeland. A new Pentagon report reveals that Beijing is expanding the size of its nuclear arsenal much faster than expected and that in 2020 China’s rulers launched more ballistic missiles for testing...

Andrew Roberts has been described as one of Britain’s greatest historians. That’s not true. He’s one of the  world’s greatest historians, as his biographies of Napoleon, and Churchill – along with a long list of other significant books – have made clear. His new book: The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III . He joins  Foreign Podicy  host Cliff May for a conversation about...

In 2005, Israelis withdrew from Gaza – every soldier, every farmer, every synagogue, every grave. It was an historic land-for-peace experiment – and it failed. In May, Hamas began firing missiles at Israeli cities, towns, and villages, sparking the fourth intense armed conflict since Hamas defeated Fatah and began ruling Gaza. Many in the international media blamed Israel more than Hamas – despite...

If the United Nations Human Rights Council were a figment of George Orwell’s imagination, you’d probably say: “Okay, very entertaining but, even accounting for dramatic license, this is a bit over the top.” The UNHRC is a club for many of the world’s worst and most chronic violators of human rights (read FDD’s assessment  here ). Among the privileges of membership: virtual immunity to criticism. T...

In May, Hamas leaders in Gaza — a territory from which Israelis withdrew in 2005 — launched more than 4,000 missiles at Israel, sparking an eleven-day conflict that would have been bloodier — on both sides — had the Israelis not been in possession of the Iron Dome, a marvel of engineering that intercepts and destroys short-range missiles before they can reach their intended victims. In other words...

An extraordinary number of organizations within the UN system spend most of their time, money, and energy demonizing and attempting to de-legitimize Israel — and claiming to defend Palestinians.  Joining Foreign Podicy host Cliff May to talk about UNIFIL, UNRWA, the UNHRC, and several other organizations specifically committed to what is commonly – though perhaps not accurately – called the “Pales...

Back in 1957, the same year the Soviets put Sputnik — the world’s first artificial satellite — into orbit, and Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” hit the top of the Billboard charts, the UN established the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The goal was to promote peaceful uses of atomic energy, provide assistance on nuclear safety, and prevent nuclear materials from getting into the wrong han...

There are dozens of international organizations affiliated with the United Nations. Some do useful work. Those that do not are under no pressure to improve. As for those that do harm: They pretty much enjoy impunity. Republican and Democratic administrations alike have preferred to leave not-well-enough alone. FDD scholars recently published a monograph,  “A Better Blueprint for International Orga...

Jews have lived in the lands we now call Germany for a rather long time. They first arrived in the 4th century under the Roman Emperor Constantine. By the end of the 19th century, there were about 500,000 German Jews – or Jewish Germans. Though less than one percent of the population, a significant number had become prominent in literature, music, the theater, journalism, science and other fields...

For the past 12 years, Benjamin Netanyahu served as Israel’s prime minister, fighting wars and wars-between-wars against Hamas and Hezbollah; opposing President Obama’s attempts to propitiate Iran’s rulers who openly threaten Israelis with genocide; attempting to block blows from the United Nations, an organization that spends inordinate amounts of time and money slandering Israelis; engaging in p...

Africa is a large and diverse continent. Many different peoples, ethnic groups, tribes — these terms overlap but are not synonymous — speaking more than a thousand languages, organized into more than 50 nation-states. Most of those nation-states achieved independence in the aftermath of World War II, as European imperialism and colonialism died out. In few African lands has political stability and...

The U.N. and other international organizations were designed to give structure to what we like to call the “international community” – establishing and expressing what we like to call “international laws” and “international norms.” Over recent years, however, authoritarian regimes have been increasingly dominating these entities, and utilizing them for their own, decidedly illiberal ends. FDD scho...

An election – of sorts – was held in the Islamic Republic of Iran last week. The victor: Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline theocrat who has been sanctioned by the US for his involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners. Voter turnout was reportedly low. To discuss these developments, and how the Biden administration – among others – may respond, host Cliff May is joined by Ray Takeyh, formerly...

David Albright is a physicist, a former nuclear inspector for the International Atomic Energy Agency, an expert on nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation, and the founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security – also known as “the Good ISIS.” His important new book, written with Sarah Burkhard: “Iran’s Perilous Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons.” It’s based on the secret...

The Islamic Republic of Iran provides Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad with rockets and other weapons, technology, training, and funding. Over 11 days in May, the two groups fired more than four thousand rockets at Israeli cities and villages. President Biden supported Israel’s right to defend itself but, at the same time, his envoys in Vienna have been negotiating a return to President Obama’s...

President Biden has been eager to rejoin the deal that President Obama concluded with Iran’s rulers in 2015 and from which President Trump withdrew three years later. The quarrel between advocates for, and critics of, the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been viewed as a disagreement over how best to prevent the theocrats in Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capabilit...

Here’s a riddle for you: Name something Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden have in common? Here's one answer: None has appeared to understand the theological premises that motivate such groups as al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State — nor those that drive the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nor have they had clarity about the thinking of those brave Muslims who oppose such interpre...

In the West Bank and Gaza, elections are not frequent occurrences. The last one was in 2006. Hamas, a terrorist organization opposed to a two-state solution and openly committed to Israel’s extermination, won a parliamentary majority. A Palestinian civil war followed. A year later, Hamas ruled Gaza while the Palestine Liberation Organization held power in the West Bank. Attempts over the years sin...

In January, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on the World Health Organization to fully investigate the possibility that the COVID-19 virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan. He cited new U.S. intelligence that raises troubling questions. But China’s rulers have not been forthcoming. Is the World Health Organization making a serious attempt to get at the truth? If not, what can and shoul...

In the Soviet Union, all media were controlled by the state, and foreign correspondents were severely restricted. Those who hoped — and perhaps believed — that freedom of speech and freedom of the press would be guaranteed to the people of post-Soviet Russia have been disappointed. Not least, the Kremlin has been hostile toward journalists reporting for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)...

Joby Warrick is a distinguished journalist, a longtime Washington Post national security reporter, and a Pulitzer Prize-winner. His latest book is: “Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America’s Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World.” To discuss Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons to mass murder his fellow Syrians, and what the U.S. did – and did not – do about it, he joi...