Top Story

One Nation Under God

By Scott Clement • Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Religion and politics collided once again this month as religious groups -- led by Catholic bishops -- objected to requirements to provide contraceptive-covering insurance in President Barack Obama's health insurance rules. It's turned into quite the campaign issue, which has pollsters wondering whether religion can really tip the scales.

Read More »

The Election 2012 Weekly Report: Revving up in Michigan

Joshua Keating • Friday, February 17, 2012

This week's Washington foreign-policy agenda was dominated by the visit of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the country's presumptive next leader. Xi's meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama was fairly cordial, but it fell to his direct counterpart -- Vice President Joe Biden -- to register a few complaints about China's trade practices and human rights record. "As Americans, we welcome competition," Biden said. "But cooperation, as you and I have spoken about, can only be mutually beneficial if the game is fair."   Read More »

Romney SMASH China!!

Daniel W. Drezner • Thursday, February 16, 2012

It's ludicrous for Romney to claim he doesn't want a trade war in the same breath that he promises "day one" action against China.  No wonder conservatives are labeling Romney's China policy as "blaringly anti-trade."  To be blunt, this China policy reads like it was composed by the Hulk. Read More »

Why hawks should vote for Obama

Stephen M. Walt • Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Obama can do hawkish things without facing (much) criticism from the left, because he still retains their sympathy and because liberals and non-interventionists don't have a credible alternative (sorry, Ron Paul supporters). If someone like John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich or George W. Bush had spent the past few years escalating drone attacks, sending Special Forces into other countries to kill people without the local government's permission, prosecuting alleged leakers with great enthusiasm, and ratcheting up sanctions against Iran, without providing much information about exactly why and how we were doing all this, I suspect a lot of Democrats would have raised a stink about some of it. Read More »

Most Americans support using force to prevent a nuclear Iran

Uri Friedman • Wednesday, February 15, 2012

How does the American public view the situation in Iran? New polling from the Pew Research Center this morning suggests that Americans are in a rather bellicose mood when it comes to confronting Iran, and pessimistic about the power of sanctions to keep Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Read More »

The List

Iran Man

Uri Friedman • Thursday, February 9, 2012

Rick Santorum, who wrested some momentum from Mitt Romney this week by winning primary contests in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri, likes to cast himself as something of an expert on Iran, which has arguably become the top foreign-policy issue in the campaign. From making clear that he'd take care of Iran's nuclear problem if they won't to warning of jihadists lurking in the Gulf of Mexico -- he's not shy about his obsession with the Iranian threat, or his hawkish stance. Read More »

This Week’s Column

Rotting From the Inside Out

Michael A. Cohen • Tuesday, February 21, 2012

A focus on U.S. global dominance or suasion that doesn't factor in elements that constitute American power at home -- such as education, health care, and the justice system -- ignores substantial and worsening signs of decline. Indeed, by virtually any measure, a closer look at the state of the U.S. today tells a sobering tale of rapid and unchecked decay and deterioration in a host of areas. While not all of them are considered elements of national security, perhaps they should be. Read More »

Candidate Profiles

The 2012 Report

The Weekly 2012 Report Newsletter

Latest from FP