Author: Matt Reisener

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  What to Look for at the Biden-Putin Summit

  Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin will meet in Geneva next week under much different circumstances than those surrounding the ill-fated meeting in Helsinki between Putin and Donald Trump in 2018.  Few suspect that Biden harbors any secret affection for Putin or rejects key judgments of the US Intelligence Community.  Few believe that any grand

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  What Does a Foreign Policy for the Middle Class Look Like?

  President Biden has talked about pursuing a foreign policy for middle class America and all Americans, but what does that actually mean? Foreign policy has become the province of elites in Washington, bypassing the views of many Americans when it comes to defense expenditures, overseas interventions, and our relationships with the rest of the world. 

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  Managing Confrontation in US-Russian Relations

  The Biden administration’s initial approach to Russia contrasts with that of every other American administration since the fall of the Soviet Union, all of which began by calling for improved relations with Moscow.  Biden has been quick to impose sanctions and call out perceived Russian misdeeds, but he has been equally quick to pursue dialogue

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  Escalating Tensions in Ukraine

  Tensions are rising ominously in eastern Ukraine.  Fighting has surged along the line of contact between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists.  Kyiv has cracked down internally on perceived Russian-sympathizers.  Russia has moved thousands of troops near the border with Ukraine, prompting Kyiv to turn to NATO with calls for support.  Many are painting the

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  Afghanistan: How Should the Biden Administration Manage the Graveyard of Empires?

  In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Milt Bearden, who ran the CIA’s covert support to Afghanistan’s mujahedin during the Soviet war, published a prescient article cautioning the United States against biting off more than it could chew in what he called “the graveyard of empires.”  His advice went unheeded.  Some twenty years later, the

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