Section: Foreign Policy (USA)
Treasury’s Cohen to Become CIA Deputy
David Cohen, the driving force behind the U.S. Treasury Department’s increasingly sophisticated use of financial warfare, has been tapped as deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The White House said Friday that it was nominating Cohen, 52, to replace the current CIA number two, Avril Haines, who is moving to the White House...
FP’s Situation Report: Western fears are realized in ‘Charlie Hebdo’ attack; Europe’s anti-Muslim sentiment could boil over; Paris gunmen are in a standoff with French police; and much more.
By David Francis with Sabine Muscat The West’s worst fears are realized in the Charlie Hebdo attack. The alleged masterminds, brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, have been advocating Islamic extremist causes since the Iraq war. Cherif was part of a Parisian jihadi outfit known as the 19th Arrondissement Network, which recruited French Muslims...
F-35s to Replace Troops in Europe as Russia Deterrent
The Pentagon announced Thursday that as part of its response to Russian aggression, it would dispatch two squadrons of next-generation fighter jets to the United Kingdom to replace military personnel currently being withdrawn. The only problem is that these jets are far from battle-ready. The Defense Department said it plans to base two squadrons...
FP’s Situation Report: Manhunt continues for two at-large gunmen involved in Paris attack; Suspects allegedly have ties to Islamic extremism; Attack fuels Europe’s far-right; and much more.
By David Francis with Sabine Muscat A massive manhunt is underway in northern and eastern France for two at-large gunmen who stormed a satirical magazine in Paris yesterday, killing 12. French authorities are frantically searching for French-Algerian brothers Said Kouachi, 34, and Cherif Kouachi, 32. Hamyd Mourad, an 18-year-old suspect in the...
What You Won’t Hear in Afghanistan in 2015
This article is part of a monthly series by the author that highlights possible post-2014 scenarios for Afghanistan. Dec. 31, 2014 has come and gone. The NATO coalition’s combat role in Afghanistan has formally ended, and most foreign troops have left the country. All that remains is a U.S.-led residual force of about 13,000 that will...
FP’s Situation Report: At least 11 dead in Paris terror attack; Pentagon investigates civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria; U.S. determined to keep MRAPs out of Islamic State hands; Putin’s Eurasian economic dreams are dying; and much more.
By David Francis with Sabine Muscat The Associated Press has the latest breaking news on a terror attack in Paris: “Masked gunmen stormed the offices of a French satirical newspaper Wednesday, killing 11 people before escaping, police and a witness said. The weekly has previously drawn condemnation from Muslims.” More here. Check...
The Credibility Addiction
Does U.S. credibility matter? If so, how much? Is it more important for other states to have high confidence that the United States will fulfill its overseas commitments, even when doing so might be expensive and not necessarily in America’s best interest? Alternatively, is it better if other states have high confidence in America’s...
Russian Roulette and the Monetary Policy Bullet
The mess in Russia — including a falling ruble, de facto currency controls, economic contraction, and bank bailouts — is as much about problems specific to Russia as it is about the slowdown in China, the strong dollar, and monetary policy divergence globally. But this has to be worrying for investors looking at emerging markets. In truth, the...
The Tea Party Comes to Moscow
A year ago, well before U.S.-Russia relations began their precipitous unraveling, conservative pundit Pat Buchanan set right-wing circles in the United States abuzz by suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “one of us” — a paleoconservative defender of traditional Christian values and a foe to “homosexual marriage, pornography,...
Putin’s Eurasian Dream Is Over Before It Began
On Jan. 1, one of Vladimir Putin’s most ambitious foreign policy projects and a longtime Kremlin dream became a reality. Unfortunately for Putin and his colleagues in Moscow, nothing about the plan will work. The Eurasian Economic Union — a post-Soviet economic bloc of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia — was designed to...
