Biden Administration
What Sanctions Do (and Don’t Do)
In 2024, the Biden administration issued an executive order imposing sanctions on specific West Bank settlers and entities that profited from the settlements. Critics said the sanctions were ineffective. But the criticism rests on a misunderstanding of how they were supposed to work.
Harris’ Balkans Problem
The Biden administration’s policy of embracing Serbia’s authoritarian leader in an attempt to lure him out of Russia’s orbit has backfired, deepening dangerous fissures in Bosnia. If Kamala Harris is to regain U.S. influence in the region she must reorient Washington’s foreign policy in the Balkans.
Brett McGurk: A Hero of Our Time
Every generation of American diplomats has a figure who becomes the face of the era in foreign policy, a Dean Acheson, Henry Kissinger, or Richard Holbrooke. The years of pain and sorrow otherwise known as the Forever Wars may have found their own symbol in Brett McGurk.
Yemenis Are Skeptical Biden’s Pivot Can End the War
The reversal in U.S. policy — which was originally greenlighted by the Obama administration and continued under the Trump administration — leaves Yemenis with mixed feelings, though many are hopeful for a normalization of life. An undercover report from Sanaa.