At least once at every conference about an international security crisis, in the midst of debate, a participant will suddenly lean back and quote Carl von Clausewitz in a booming voice to underscore a tenuous point. Sometimes, in order to demonstrate that they are not just drawing on conventional wisdom …

Q: “Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?” (CBS News) A: “Yes.” (President Joe Biden, May 23, 2022) Q: “ You are?” (CBS) A: “That’s the commitment we made.” (President Biden) Once again, an unplanned and impromptu remark from President Biden has …

Anxiety about the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) toward the Russian border is one of the causes of the current war in Ukraine. But this is not the only attempt at expansion by NATO, a treaty organization created in 1949 by the United States to project its …