Our latest curated content features some of the best foreign policy minds in the country on geopolitical developments in Iran, China, and, especially, Saudi Arabia. Of particular note is Dr. Gil Barndollar's piece, featured in RealClearDefense, "Is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a Vital Ally?" Here Dr. Barndollar takes the occasion of Saudi Arabia's contributing role in the recent energy crisis to consider the broader logic of US-Saudi alliance afresh. Readers concerned about the nature of our involvement in the Yemeni civil war will find this piece especially instructive. For further reading on the U.S.-Saudi relationship, we offer this fine piece by Daniel DePetris, as well as this piece by Annelle Sheline for Responsible Statescraft. Another highlight of our curated content comes by way of Nate Anderson and Dan Caldwell. This piece delves into the details and explores the implications of an important recent survey by Concerned Veterans for America, indicating that a majority of veterans and veteran households support reductions in U.S. military involvement overseas. As a companion to this piece, we highly recommend the survey itself, which we have featured in our Essential Readings section. Finally, to round off the topic of drawing down our overseas engagements, the interested reader would benefit from Curt Mills' piece in the American Conservative arguing that it is time to bring our troops back home from Afghanistan. Original Posts Nate Anderson, Dan Caldwell, RealClearDefense For nearly two decades, our leaders in Washington have bogged down our country in a series of "endless wars," costing thousands of American lives and trillions of taxpayer dollars. T... Gil Barndollar, RealClearDefense “You’re supposed to be our damn friend!” Senator Ted Cruz’s plaintive cry, issued during a radio interview earlier this month, was an unprecedented eruption from one of Saudi Arabia’... Essential Reading Daniel Davis, Defense Priorities Bottom Line: The U.S. presence in Afghanistan has been justified using the false claim that withdrawal will create a “safe haven” for terrorism. Debunking the safe haven myth reveals... In the News Annelle Sheline, Responsible Statecraft Sina Toossi, Responsible Statecraft Daniel DePetris, Washington Examiner Jon Wolfsthal, Responsible Statecraft Sina Toossi, Responsible Statecraft Doug Bandow, Cato Institute Curt Mills, American Conservative Hunter DeRensis, American Conservative Ethan Paul, Responsible Statecraft Daniel DePetris, Business Insider Doug Bandow, Foreign Policy Jon Letman, Responsible Statecraft Stephen Walt, Business Insider Mark Katz, Responsible Statecraft Daniel Larison, American Conservative Empire Has No Clothes Matt Purple, Kelley Vlahos and Daniel Larison preview Justin Amash's presidential run, America's ongoing Afghan quagmire, and the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Yemen. In the second segment, they speak to BU professor Andrew Bacevich about the Trump administration's muddled foreign policy, and whether he'd take a job in it. Quincy Institute With Bashar al-Assad’s immediate survival seemingly assured, is it time for a broader re-assessment of Western policy towards Syria? Power Problems Alice Hunt Friend of the Center for Strategic and International Studies joins Emma Ashford and Trevor Thrall to talk about the increasingly strained relations between civilian and military leaders in the Trump administration |