Blue Blaze

For most of our lifetimes there was no real debate in the United States about US policy toward Europe. Even after the Cold War ended, the US foreign policy establishment (Democratic and Republican alike) saw NATO as the cornerstone of US policy both in Europe and in broader U.S. global leadership. Although disagreements between Washington and Europe certainly arose, the US commitment to Europe was rock-solid. New to Blue Blaze? Subscribe here: This has clearly changed.

In January, with the Trump administration considering war with Iran, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) published a piece under a headline that produced, for me at least, a post-traumatic flashback to 2013.

I’m driving back to the hotel after the conference dinner and Mark Blyth in the passenger seat is pointing energetically, urging me to make the left turn in his Scottish lilt, “Go! Go!” I’m thinking, who is this dude?, and during the conference I found out. Although I was not interested in his commentary about making a left turn in a dark Wellesley suburb while being blinded by oncoming headlights, I soon realized that I wanted to hear pretty much anything else he had to say.

Welcome to Scouted! As the US-China competition intensifies, international security scholar Seth Jones warns that China is already well along the way toward mobilizing for war—while the United States remains on a peacetime footing. Seth Jones is the president of the Defense and Security Department and the Harold Brown Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.