Ivo Daalder

George W. Bush has launched a revolution in American foreign policy. In less than three years in office, he has discarded or redefined many of the key principles governing how America engages the world. He has relied on the unilateral exercise of American power rather than on international law and institutions to get his way. […]

George W. Bush’s decision to go to war against Iraq was based on three fundamental assumptions: Saddam Hussein’s possession of weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat to the United States; turning Iraq into a stable and viable self-governing state would be far easier than previous nation-building efforts; and, once weapons were found and […]

The Bush administration hailed as a victory North Korea’s announcement in late July that it would participate in six-party talks on its nuclear program. The White House had insisted for months that Pyongyang’s illicit activities were a regional issue best resolved in a multilateral setting. But unless the administration enters the new talks willing to […]

Does George W. Bush actually believe his own foreign-policy pronouncements? A year ago he made North Korea a charter member of the “axis of evil” and vowed not to “permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most destructive weapons.” The National Security Strategy he issued last September warned that the […]

This September, when the Senate returns from its summer recess, the Foreign Relations Committee plans to vote on the Moscow Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions, which Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin signed at the Moscow Summit in May. Bush claims the treaty “will liquidate the legacy of the Cold War,” but it does […]