Allies and Adversaries

Category: News

  • The F-16 Debate

    The foreign policy debate rattling Washington this week is whether the United States should acquiesce to its Western allies by agreeing to provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. This debate arose once again when the United Kingdom and the Netherlands announced plans to provide F-16s to Ukraine, pitting the United States and some of its…

  • During A Recent Visit to Ottawa, Biden and Trudeau Got Down to Business

    In late November, I argued in the pages of this blog that Canada was noticeably absent from the Biden administration’s foreign policy upheaval. President Joe Biden came into office promising to restore alliances to the center of U.S. foreign policy. Initially, Canada appeared to be one of the first stops. Yet, despite complimentary rhetoric over…

  • The Fallacy of Republican Calls to Use Military Force in Mexico to Combat the Fentanyl Crisis

    As presidential hopefuls from both sides of the aisle begin to announce their bids for 2024 presidency, an absurd policy idea dating back to the Trump administration’s time in office is once again gaining traction. As a way to address the worsening fentanyl crisis in the United States, prominent members of the GOP are calling…

  • The Recent U.S. Document Leak Will Not Impact Ties with Its Allies

    The United States is again beset by leaked national security information. This week, U.S. government officials arrested and charged a 21-year-old air national guardsman from Massachusetts for releasing hundreds of documents– largely photographs of printed briefings –on the social media platform known as Discord in early March. The highly classified documents, some of which were…

  • Is Expanding AUKUS the Solution?

    In September 2021, the United States and the United Kingdom announced a plan to share submarine technology with Australia in a security pact awkwardly dubbed AUKUS. This was a particularly big deal at the time since the United States shares this technology with only one other ally, the United Kingdom. However, there is some debate…

  • When Will Finland and Sweden Join NATO? That Remains To Be Seen

    In September, the U.S. ambassador to Finland predicted, perhaps too hastily, that Finland and Sweden would “become official NATO members by Christmas.” It is now December 22 and while most believe the two Nordic countries will eventually be accepted into the 30-member alliance, it does not appear it will happen in the timeframe predicted by…

  • Japan’s Military Spending Increase Comes with Geopolitical Shifts in the Region

    On December 16, Japan, one of America’s closest allies in Asia, announced that the nation will double its military spending, reaching 2% of Japan’s GDP by 2027. “In the next five years, in order to fundamentally reinforce our defense capacities, we will implement a defense build-up program worth $43 trillion yen ($314 billion),” Japan’s Prime…

  • Canada, A Key U.S. Ally, Noticeably Absent from Key U.S. Foreign Policy Developments

    When Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election promising to restore alliances in U.S. foreign policy, sighs of relief could be heard across much of Canada. Four years of neglect and abuse from the Trump administration left U.S.-Canada relations strained. The Trump administratoin imposed arbitrary tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum with little explanation.…

  • Missile Hit in Poland Reminds NATO That War is Very Real

    On Tuesday, a missile landed in the Polish farm town of Przewodow, just four miles from the border with Ukraine. Initially, as the missile hit within NATO territory, many were quick blame Russia for the fatal blast. Had what NATO members worked so hard to avoid finally happened? Was Russia launching an attack on a…

  • U.S.-Saudi Ties Are at the Lowest in Decades. Here’s Why.

    In recent months, ties between the United States and its longtime Middle Eastern partner, Saudi Arabia, have reached the lowest point in decades. The latest involved a cut in oil production by a group fronted by Saudi Arabia. On October 5, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) – a cartel of 23 oil-exporting…