I. Trump Administration Foreign Policy

• Ryan Goodman, Jared Kushner, the Arms Deal, and Alleged Saudi War Crimes (Saturday, May 20)
• Michael Posner, Tillerson’s Degradation of Human Rights Mustn’t–and Can’t Yet–be Executive Branch Policy              (Monday, May 22)
• Sydney Blumenthal, What Lincoln Thought of “America First” (Monday, May 22)
• David Goodstone,  A Proposal for Space, Not Time, to Negotiate Peace in the Middle East (Tuesday, May 23)
• Luke Hartig, Glowing Orbs and Glimmers of Hope: Trump’s baby steps to countering violent extremism (Friday, May 26)

II.  …   continue »

When the United States ordered retaliation in response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons in Idlib, President Donald Trump spoke of “innocent children, innocent babies, little babies” and of breaches of “international norms” that had “crossed many, many lines, beyond a red line.”

But this is not the only recent example of moral lines being crossed in Syria and elsewhere.…   continue »

These days, the Trump administration is not just threatening human rights with executive orders, tomahawk missiles and tweets. It is also wielding the government’s wallet as a weapon against the international human rights system, proposing to cut or withhold billions of dollars in funding for a variety of international institutions that play crucial roles in the defense and promotion of human rights.…   continue »

Only a few weeks into his tenure as UN Secretary-General, António Guterres has been under pressure to fix the UN’s efforts to deal with terrorism and violent extremism. The programs he inherited are badly disorganized, while the threats are increasingly undermining not only international peace and security, but also the development goals at the top of his agenda.…   continue »

It seems that President Donald Trump and his Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, have their wires crossed yet again. The president, despite strong objections from human rights activists and many foreign policy professionals, hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi this week at the White House, even referring to him as a “fantastic guy.” The visit coincided with the first working day of the United States’ rotating presidency of the UN Security Council.  …   continue »

Both Michael Fuchs’ angst-ridden piece for Just Security (“The Deconstruction of America’s Global Leadership”), and Jack Goldsmith’s equally frenetically titled (but less fevered textually) essay over on Lawfare (“The Trump Onslaught on International Law and Institutions”) foresee nothing but bleakness for America’s standing in the world.…   continue »

The UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR), known by its French acronym MINUSCA, reported last month that on February 26 it “had intervened” militarily to halt “an offensive maneuver” (‘la progression offensive’) by approximately 40 alleged members of an armed group near the town of Bambari.…   continue »

Stephen Bannon, President Donald Trump’s chief strategist, has made it clear that the Trump administration wants to see the “deconstruction of the administrative state.” While this alarming philosophy has obvious consequences domestically, it is less clear what it means for U.S.…   continue »

A new United Nations report on sexual exploitation and abuse at the UN, along with its high profile media launch, may signal “a new approach” by the organization. It also reflects the seriousness with which the new secretary-general, António Guterres, views the matter, which has plagued the UN for years.…   continue »

In his first speech to Congress, President Donald Trump said that, “our foreign policy calls for a direct, robust and meaningful engagement with the world.” However, it is hard to tell how he intends to engage with the United Nations and other multilateral institutions that have been at the heart of America’s efforts in this regard for over 70 years. …   continue »