Spying on the Europeans — PRISM repercussions as Obama heads to Europe

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Michael J. Geary and I argue in The National Interest this morning that the repercussions of reports of the PRISM program within the U.S. National Security Agency mean that U.S. president Barack Obama will face tough questions when he goes to Europe for the G8 summit in Northern Ireland and additional meetings in Berlin.  At a time [...]

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Questions on the U.S. war on terror, Obama’s big speech and its effect on world politics

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Kevin Lees

There’s a lot to unpack from the wide-ranging speech that U.S. president Barack Obama gave this afternoon on the United States and its ongoing military action to combat terror organizations. I got the sense that Obama’s been anxious to make this speech for some time and to make the terms of debate over targeted attacks [...]

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Photo of the day: Five presidents (or six?)

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Kevin Lees

It’s not everyday that the gang of all of the living current and former (and possibly future) presidents of the United States gather in one place. But it happened today on the occasion of the opening of the presidential library of former president George W. Bush in Dallas, Texas — see above the ‘most exclusive club [...]

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Boston bombing suspects could cause uptick in anti-Chechen feeling in the US

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Kevin Lees

UPDATE:  Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s president, has come out with a statement disclaiming Chechen culpability, but in a way that blames American ‘attitudes and beliefs,’ and I doubt it will do much to lift American hearts and minds in favor of Chechnya: Tragic events have taken place in Boston. A terrorist attack killed people. We have [...]

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What game theory tells us about the sequester showdown

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Here in the United States, we’ve reached the final day before $85 billion in spending cuts take effect from sequestration (Ezra Klein really does provide ‘everything you need to know‘ in background, so I won’t waste your time with my own explanation).  For non-U.S. readers (or lazy Americans), here’s the issue in a nutshell: Back in [...]

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Four things that the Netanyahu-Livni deal tells us about Israel’s next government

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Kevin Lees

With word that Tzipi Livni, former foreign minister and leader of Hatnuah (התנועה, ‘The Movement’), will become the first major figure to join prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition for a third term in office, nearly a month after Israel’s legislative elections, we’ve reached a new critical phase of the coalition-building process. Livni will not only [...]

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How U.S. immigration reform might affect México

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Kevin Lees

The last time the United States seriously contemplated immigration reform, it was also immediately after the inauguration of a new Mexican president — Vicente Fox, a business-friendly conservative whose Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) came to power for the first time in 69 years, ousting the long-governing Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). That was 12 years ago, and this time, the [...]

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U.S. justice department memo justifies targeted killings of U.S. citizens abroad

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Kevin Lees

In 2002 and 2003, assistant U.S. attorney general John Yoo, at the U.S. department of justice, authored now-infamous ‘torture memos’ providing legal justification for ‘enhanced interrogation’ techniques, which the administration of U.S. president George W. Bush would proceed to employ against ‘unlawful combatants,’ and in violation of the Geneva Conventions, according to many legal scholars [...]

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Don’t rule out Joe Biden in 2016 U.S. presidential election

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Although today’s been a big day for U.S. president Barack Obama, it’s been nearly as big a day for his vice president, Joseph Biden, who was also sworn in for a second term as vice president — and a vice president who’s had a very important role to play in the Obama administration with respect [...]

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Subdued Obama 2nd inauguration contrasts with Bush’s sweeping 2nd inaugural address

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Kevin Lees

U.S. president Barack Obama was inaugurated today — on the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in the United States and with a touching invocation from Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of the slain Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers on the 50th anniversary of his assassination – to somewhat less excitement than in the [...]

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Lew to be nominated today for U.S. treasury secretary

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Kevin Lees

U.S. president Barack Obama is set to nominate his chief of staff, Jacob Lew (pictured above) as the next U.S. treasury secretary later today. Lew formerly served as the Obama budget director from 2010 to 2012 seems the likely frontrunner to succeed Geithner. I wrote back in December that the next U.S. treasury secretary would play [...]

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Hagel’s Defense nomination may be about Israel — but not in the way you think

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Kevin Lees

The next U.S. secretary of defense will affect world affairs in profound ways — the drawdown of troops from Afghanistan in 2013, the use of military drones to launch attacks on Yemen and Pakistan, and the ongoing strategic interest of U.S. armed forces in the Asia/Pacific theater.  It wasn’t pre-destined that the nomination of former U.S. senator [...]

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The next U.S. treasury secretary will be more important to world affairs than John Kerry

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Now that we’ve gotten the excitement about the nomination of U.S. senator John Kerry out of the way, we’re still a long way off from knowing who will succeed Timothy Geithner as U.S. president Barack Obama’s treasury secretary. Although in terms of protocol, Kerry will undoubtedly remain the top American diplomat, the next U.S. treasury [...]

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Five reasons why Kerry’s appointment as U.S. secretary of state is a slam-dunk

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Kevin Lees

U.S. president Barack Obama is expected to nominate U.S. senator John Kerry today to succeed U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who will leave the U.S. state department as one of the most admired public servants in the United States, despite the grumbling over the 9/11 Benghazi attack. I’ve argued for a long time that [...]

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Time names Barack Obama Person of the Year. Is that too US-centric?

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Kevin Lees

So Time Magazine’s decision to anoint a Person of the Year since 1927, for reasons unknown, holds a rapt audience among folks in the United States, myself included. This year (oh the suspense!), Time chose U.S. president Barack Obama.  In those 85 years, of course, Time has chosen every U.S. president (except Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and poor Gerald [...]

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