| This week's curated content continues to reflect key grand strategy themes of troop withdrawal, America's relationship with China, and the foreign policy implications of the imminent presidential election in the United States. President Trump's much-promised troop withdrawal gained fresh relevance after a series of recent tweets from the president assuring the public that troops would be home from Afghanistan in time for Christmas. To better understand the ambitions for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, readers would benefit from Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt's piece. Adam Weinstein offers a skeptical yet insightful analysis of Trump's ability to successfully withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Daniel DePetris offers perspective on what exactly one means by the term "forever war" noting the Afghanistan war is just one year short of its 20th anniversary. Of course, the question of troop withdrawal suggests the larger question of how to avoid future forever wars such as Afghanistan. Daniel Larison offers an insightful piece on how to change Washington's "regime change addiction." Addressing electoral bottlenecks, Danny Sjursen acknowledges and laments that too many of the hawkish members of Congress were themselves veterans. As always, the biggest question in grand strategy has to do with managing our relationship with China into the 21st Century. Bonnie Kristian and Daniel DePetris offer advice and insight into how best to manage this relationship responsibly: with neither weakness nor naivete nor reckless aggression. Finally, we direct readers to Kelley Beaucar Vlahos' piece on the incoherence of the Biden-Harris foreign policy for readers interested in how the 2020 election could impact grand strategy. Essential Reading Benjamin H. Friedman, Cato Institute Bottom line: The United States makes foreign policy like rich people shop: indulging luxurious tastes without much concern about price. U.S. leaders chronically exaggerate the nation... In the News Adam Weinstein, Responsible Statement Bonnie Kristian, Business Insider Daniel Larison, American Conservative Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, Responsible Statecraft Danny Sjursen, Responsible Statecraft Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt, New York Times Daniel Davis, Washington Examiner Willis L. Krumholz, The Federalist Michael Horton, Responsible Statecraft Daniel DePetris, Washington Examiner Reşat Kasaba, Responsible Statecraft Ted Galen Carpenter, American Conservative Harry Kazianis, Responsible Statecraft Doug Bandow, Antiwar.com Daniel Larison, American Conservative Empire Has No Clothes This week, Kelley, Dan and Matt talk to David Vine, who co-wrote the Cost of War study that found that as many as 59,000 refugees were created in the wake of the U.S.-led 9/11 wars. We also hash out the pushback on the study’s methodology. In the first segment we talk about new U.S. threats to shutter our embassy in Iraq and why. | 
