Foreign Policy

What is the difference between remembering war and writing histories about it?

So it turns out that Sidney Blumenthal wrote the following to Secretary of State Clinton about an item in this blog.

This is during World War I.

Event Notice: United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists (DC Launch), Tuesday, February 9 (New America) Pakistan Pakistan and Afghanistan intelligence chiefs meet in Islamabad On Thursday, Masoud Andarabi, the head of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS), met with Lt. General Rizwan Akhtar, the Director General of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), in Islamabad (VOA). ...

The Assad regime’s offensive in Aleppo, backed by heavy bombing by Russian planes, is driving thousands of people to flee the city. The new surge in displaced persons has drawn concern from Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. “Now, 10,000 new refugees are waiting in front of the door of (the Turkish city of) Kilis because ...

By Paul McLeary with Adam Rawnsley More, more, more. Placing American commandos in Afghan army units and allowing forward air controllers to move closer to the front lines to call in airstrikes are a few of the ways that Gen. John Campbell, head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, thinks his troops might be ...

The personal relationship between John Kerry and Javad Zarif paved the way for a high-profile prisoner swap. But its biggest test is still to come.

I don’t understand the disproportionate focus on a half day in Benghazi vs. more than a decade in Iraq. When people say they just the facts, I think: We still don’t know when the decision was made to invade Iraq, or who was involved. We still don’t know why the intelligence was so warped. We ...

  By David Crist Best Defense guest columnist The importance of last week’s event in the Persian Gulf goes beyond current political sound bites. It speaks to the complex relationship between the two nations where engagement and confrontation co-exist. It shows the importance for the United States of having diplomatic relations with a still hostile ...

25 years after Desert Storm, America still hasn’t learned why it’s so difficult to win wars overseas.

Shawn M. Campbell, 41, College Station, Texas. Brian T. Kennedy, 31, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kevin T. Roche, 30, St. Louis, Missouri. Steven R. Torbert, 29, Florence, Alabama. Dillon J. Semolina, 24,Chaska, Minnesota. Adam C. Schoeller, 25, Gardners, Pennsylvania. Jeffrey A. Sempler, 22, Woodruff, South Carolina. William J. Turner, 25, Florala, Alabama. Matthew R. Drown, 23, Spring, ...

A head-spinning visit to Dubai’s massive Chinese mega-mall.

Refugees and cool kids are living side-by-side -- but not together -- in one of Germany’s most immigrant-heavy neighborhoods.

The United Nations and individual nations lifted their nuclear-related sanctions on Iran this weekend after the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran had met its obligations under the agreement reached with the P5+1 in July 2015. Under the terms of the deal, Iran has shipped much of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to Russia, ...

A new wrinkle added to a complicated few days of diplomacy

The United States and other world powers lifted a raft of crushing sanctions against Iran on Saturday as a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran took effect. Hours earlier, Iran released five Americans it had detained, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian.

Pakistan Suicide bomb near polio center in Quetta kills 16 A suicide bombing outside of a polio vaccination center in Quetta has killed at least 16 people on Wednesday (NYT). According to Syed Imtiaz Shah, a senior official with the Quetta police, 13 of the victims were police officers there to guard polio workers, who ...

By Paul McLeary with Adam Rawnsley They’re out. Just after dawn broke over the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, ten U.S. sailors being held by Iranian forces on Farsi Island got in their boats, and sailed away. The crews of the two Riverine Command Boats — detained Tuesday after sailing into Iranian territorial waters — were ...

Iran has released 10 U.S. sailors who were captured yesterday when their navigational equipment failed and they drifted near Farsi Island, the location of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps base. The U.S. Navy personnel were held for several hours and questioned about their intentions, but this morning they were allowed to board their ships and ...

Under strain from an influx of asylum seekers claiming to be children, Sweden is now considering instituting mandatory age tests.