| Irrespective of how the Trump Administration has governed in practice, Donald Trump distinguished himself on the 2016 campaign trail by flouting foreign policy interventionist orthodoxies embraced by his own adopted party. Despite his victory, the party has been notoriously stubborn in accommodating a genuine shift to foreign policy restraint. This week's curated piece by Doug Bandow excoriates a recent foreign policy memo associated with House Republicans that highlights this backsliding. Of course, there may be no better example of such "backsliding" than the continued relevance of John Bolton. Readers interested in critical engagement with Bolton's foreign policy perspective would benefit greatly from Trita Parsi's piece that highlights John Bolton's unique obsession with Iran. In the wake of media leaks suggesting alleged Russian bounties on U.S. personnel in Syria, Gil Barndollar's piece in Business Insider puts the United States' geo-strategic goals in Syria in perspective. In the News David Smilde, Responsible Statecraft Bonnie Kristian, American Conservative Trita Parsi, Foreign Policy Jessica Lee, National Interest Daniel Davis, Townhall Doug Bandow, American Conservative Daniel Larison, American Conservative Harry J. Kazianis, John Dale Grover, & Steph Umbert, National Interest Michael Galant, Responsible Statecraft Gil Barndollar, Business Insider Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, American Conservative Brian Blankenship & Renanah Miles Joyce, Defense One Mark Lutter, American Conservative Jordan Cohen & A. Trevor Thrall, Washington Examiner Jamal Abdi & Ryan Costello, Responsible Statecraft Net Assessment The Cato Institute’s Emma Ashford joins Melanie and Zack to discuss her recent article on how to “Build a Better Blob.” They debate whether the foreign policy community is hostile to non-mainstream thinking, or just to non-experts. Emma outlines why the foreign policy community needs to embrace many forms of diversity (and why we all need to wear face masks). Arena Civil Dialogues Boston Public Radio On Thursday, Andrew Bacevich joined Boston Public Radio to unpack his views on the nation’s use of violence and military might to solve its lintany of issues, both foreign and domestic. | 
