Talking Foreign Policy

March 24, 2026   Talking Foreign Policy - Board of Peace and its prospects for success and potential risks

January 20, 2026   Talking Foreign Policy - Age of Atrocity: A Fire-Side Chat with Ambassador Beth Van Schaack   Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Talking Foreign Policy - U.S. Attacks on Venezuelan and Colombian Narco Vessels December 1, 2025 Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Every so often there is a tectonic shift in American foreign policy -- a fundamental turning point marked by new ways of approaching the world.  The post-World War II era of institution-building, the Cold War period of competition and militarization, and the 9/11 global war on terrorism are examples. Has the return of President Trump ushered in one of these historic turning points? What are the ra...

In its war with Ukraine, Russia has targeted the environment as its most insidious means of warfare.  It has blown up dams, flooded coal mines, burned down national forests, and even targeted the black sea dolphins that inhabit the waters off Ukraine's coast. With an effort to obtain a peace agreement now underway, will the perpetrators of these attacks be brought to justice?  Where will they be t...

Talking Foreign Policy - Is Taiwan at Risk?   Dec. 2, 2024

Conventional wisdom says that foreign policy doesn't matter in U.S. Presidential elections. Quote "It's the economy, stupid," was long thought to be political gospel.  But this election might be different. According to polls, a divided America cares deeply about the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, about the influx of migrants from south of the border, about the looming trade war with Chi...

This August, the world will celebrate the 75 th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions on the Law of War.   These seminal treaties were negotiated following the horrors of the Second World War.   Their object was to lay down rules to limit the savagery of armed conflict.   Every country in the world has signed them, making the Geneva Conventions the most ratified of all treaties.     But are the 75...

Two years ago, on February 24, 2022, Russia launched a massive invasion of neighboring Ukraine.   The International community responded with military aid and sanctions.   The U.N. expelled Russia from the Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.   Russia failed to capture Ukraine's largest cities or topple Ukraine's go...

September was the hottest month in recorded history.   Last summer, smoke from Canadian forest fires blanketed the United States.   Maui ignited.   Libya was deluged by flooding of biblical dimensions.   Sea levels rose as glaciers and ice sheets melted at an accelerating rate. The world's great rivers and lakes are drying up, while climate migrants are pouring across borders. Is it too late to st...

May 30, 2023 Two-months ago, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.    He's been charged with orchestrating the abduction of thousands of Ukrainian children and transferring them to Russia for adoption. It's the first time a major world leader has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.   How will this affect the course of world e...

February 21, 2023 Case Western Reserve University School of Law   Since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, the situation there has gone from bad to worse.  Today, 20 million Afghans are starving and millions are internally displaced.  The Taliban is back in power.  They are once again providing sanctuary to terrorist groups that threaten the United States. They have decreed that...

January 23, 2020 Case Western Reserve University School of Law

October 24, 2022 Case Western Reserve University School of Law

March 21, 2022   Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Sept. 28, 2021   Case Western Reserve University School of Law