Daniel Larison

Jan 15, 2025 | antiwar.com | Daniel Larison

The Biden administration is getting something right on foreign policy at the very end:Less than a week before leaving the White House, President Joe Biden is lifting the state sponsor of terrorism designation for Cuba, nearly four years to the day from when President Donald Trump, in one of his own last acts in office, put Havana back on the list. Removing Cuba from the state sponsors list is the right decision, but it should have been made years ago.

Jan 13, 2025 | daniellarison.substack.com | Daniel Larison

Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, faces what should be a grueling confirmation hearing tomorrow. By almost any standard, Hegseth is an abysmal nominee, and the Senate Armed Services Committee should reject his nomination. Unfortunately, that probably won’t happen. Trump is sticking with Hegseth, and it seems as if Republicans on the committee are falling in line.

Jan 9, 2025 | daniellarison.substack.com | Daniel Larison

Ryan Berg argues that the Trump administration will be more focused on Latin America than its predecessors:One of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s most lasting slogans of governance is that “personnel is policy.” Judged using Reagan’s mantra, it appears as though the incoming Trump team could be rightly described as the United States’ first Latin America-focused administration in at least a century—and perhaps ever.

Jan 8, 2025 | responsiblestatecraft.org | Daniel Larison

The ineffective U.S. military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen is now a year old. Based on new reports, based on two sources in the Jerusalem Post, there are hints that that the incoming Trump administration may be planning to escalate it. The paper says the Biden administration is reportedly planning to intensify the bombings before Jan. 21. Then, according to the Post, Trump will be looking to ramp up the military campaign even more once he is sworn in.

Jan 7, 2025 | antiwar.com | Daniel Larison

Richard Nephew thinks that the case against attacking Iran isn’t as strong as it used to be:But today, the case against military action is not so neat. If anything, the case against attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities is stronger than it has ever been. It is because Iran’s nuclear program has advanced so far that we have no reason to believe that military action would be successful.