Worth Reading: Stephen M. Walt, Delusion Points in Foreign Policy.
Recent Bluessky Posts- I gather that Trump's name came off the Kennedy Center after the courts rejected the ridiculous 11th hour attempt (unhinged brief not signed by career lawyers) to block it, but the work was done behind a tarp to block the cameras. Missed opportunity to sell tickets; might have raised real money. June 13, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- There is: Reward your friends and those who pay you. Punish opponents and perceived enemies. June 13, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Seen at MIA in the TSA departures queue, this invitation to 'self-deport' in exchange for a $1000 per person and a free flight. Although I recall reading they don't necessarily deliver. In any case a sour taste for the start of international travel. June 13, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- In a strange way you almost could admire the Trumpies' leave-no-stone-unturned approach to graft. There is really no bottom. No limit. And justice is at best slow. June 12, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Jotwell Adlaw: Fred Jacob, Administrative Agencies & the People who Love Them, JOTWELL (June 12, 2026) (reviewing Anya Bernstein & Cristina Rodriguez, Working with Statutes, 103 Tex. L. Rev. 921 (2025)), adlaw.jotwell.com/__trashed-2/. June 12, 2026 Jotwell
Though I respect Stephen Walt for his analysis on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, it is delusional of the Dems to think that they can have it both ways – blame Bush for Obama’s foreign policy blunders while Ob ama all the while continues with the same policies and on top of that effectively shuts down foreign policy criticism from the left. And for Walt to offer the prospect of a war w/ Portugal if we had continued down the path of Bush seems idiotic when we should be more worried at present w/ the Obama administration’s and especially Clinton’s support of coups in Latin America, the new Plan Mexico, and continuations of illegal wars/occupations in the Middle East. Bush is old news and I don’t think it is delusional to think that there isn’t much difference between Bush’s and Obama’s foreing policy. When the Dems are back out of power in the near future and the Afghan war continues to rage and some Dem analyst recommends that the Dems once again release a few tired antiwar slogans for political gain, I hope the Dems’ cynical calls will fall on deaf ears.
I for one am well prepared to blame Obama for failing to withdraw more quickly and more fully from Iran and Afghanistan. I’d like to blame him for failing to do something better about the Arab/Israeli problem, except that almost all his predecessors failed too, and given the intransigence there I’m not real clear what he could actually do.