Author / Nicholas Kinberg
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One World, Overarching Theories
This article is in response to Jack Snyder’s article in Foreign Policy, published in November 2004. Snyder’s thesis is that the three principal theories of international relations, realism, liberalism, and idealism, each explain some aspects and fail to explain other aspects of the international system in our post-9/11 world. We can posit a theory that…
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After The War In Afghanistan
The year is 2029. The U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan in 2022, ending the Afghan war. This had been a long time coming. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan over twenty years prior, in retaliation for the September 11th attacks. After President Bush’s initial campaign failed to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaeda, the U.S. invaded Iraq in…
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The Middle East In The 2020s
As the Middle East enters the last year of this decade, it has completed what could be the worst epoch in its history. Oxford Professor Eugene Rogan, in The Arabs: A History, talks about the feeling of humiliation present in the Arab world following a series of events. The defeat of Iraq in the First…
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Demanding A Democratic Response To Neoconservatism
The 2020 election cycle has arrived and the Democrats need a message. With a Republican incumbent (who may be in for a primary challenge), all eyes are on the Democratic field. All Democrats can agree on one thing: at least their nominee won’t be Trump. But such a declaration dismisses the meaningful policy discussions that…
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The Second Syrian Civil War
[su_pullquote align=”right”]Assad will win his war by 2020.[/su_pullquote]Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will win his war by 2020. Iran and Russia, whose forces now constitute most of Assad’s armies, have successfully protected his regime and the Syrian statelet. Opposition forces—what’s left of them after the fall of Aleppo in December 2016—are disunited and weak. And the…
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Should the U.S. Balance Saudi Arabia Against Iran?
A humanitarian disaster in Yemen. Sanctions against Qatar. Consolidation of power in Riyadh. And yet another possible proxy conflict in Lebanon between Saudi Arabia and Iran. This is what you get when states—Saudi Arabia in particular—get blank checks from the United States of America. This is why the world’s last absolutist monarchy must be brought…
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How to Debate Non-Interventionists
I can’t count how many times I’ve heard people say “the U.S. should mind its own business” or “we should leave the Middle East alone” or “alliances with none, trade with all.” Every time I do, I cringe a bit; not only because I disagree, but also because points like that are quite difficult to…
