Christopher McCallion

Fellow @DefPriorities. Analyzing US foreign policy. Restraint/realism=good.

[Christopher McCallion @chrisjmccallion]

@jekavanagh and I argue in @WarOnTheRocks that armed neutrality is the best realistic option for Ukraine’s postwar security and for preserving the credibility of NATO’s existing commitments. 1/5

[War on the Rocks @WarOnTheRocks]

While Ukraine’s dreams of NATO membership appear increasingly out of reach, its long-term security can be guaranteed in other ways. https://t.co/BPcasIfjnQ

[Christopher McCallion @chrisjmccallion]

@ShabnamShabani @defpriorities The US war against Iran is unjustified. I think you'll find all of our commentary on the war regards it not only as arbitrary and a failure by its own standards, but directly counterproductive to US interests, which is why we've warned against attacking Iran for years.

[Daniel DePetris @DanDePetris]

It’s fascinating how often U.S. foreign policy works at cross-purposes:

(1) The U.S. sanctions the crap out of Cuba and pushes the island into an energy-starved humanitarian calamity, which forces the Trump administration to send $100 million in aid to help the Cuban people deal with the fallout.

(2) The U.S. starts a war with Iran to compel a no-enrichment policy, only to sign a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that includes enrichment as a possibility—reinforcing Tehran’s long-held position that enrichment is a sovereign right outside the scope of negotiations (although I guess the Saudi nuclear deal is no longer happening?).

(3) The U.S. wages war on Iran to destroy its nuclear program, oblivious to the fact that the war is giving Tehran’s more hardline regime a greater reason to at least consider a full-bore nuclear weapons capability.

(4) The U.S. harangues European allies to take primary responsibility for their own defense but then has a fit whenever NATO-Europe makes the slightest move away from U.S. weapons systems.

(5) The U.S. gives Israel unconditional support to the tune of billions of dollars in military aid every year, but for whatever reason is shocked whenever Netanyahu does things—bombing an Arab capital like Doha, entrenching occupations in Gaza and the West Bank and stonewalling U.S.-led diplomatic initiatives—that ostensibly undermine U.S. goals.

This isn’t a Trump problem either—it’s a systemic problem.

[Ben Friedman @BH_Friedman]

The options aren’t just war (whether an escalated one or continued blockade) or a negotiated peace; we could also just stop, while making sure Israel goes along. This would reopen Strait, albeit probably with some sort of toll, fixing the main problem the war has caused.

[Christopher McCallion @chrisjmccallion]

Modern classic

[Andrew Day @AKDay89]

The Strait of Hormuz was closed for 47 years by the Mad Mullahs of Iran. But tonight, Donald Trump opened it.

[Rosemary Kelanic @RKelanic]

The US appears to have finally withdrawn from Syria — nearly 7 years after the ISIS caliphate was defeated.

Now let’s talk about leaving those 13 wrecked bases in the Gulf. If the Iran war has taught us anything, they’re vulnerabilities, not strengths.

@defpriorities
https://t.co/QfJTJE9duA

[ROCKET 🚀 MAN @marsprojectX05]

Thrilled to announce the publication of this paper, co-authored with former Scoville Fellow '24 at Stimson @Lucas_Ruiz24 https://t.co/cxNOM63ItX

[Ben Friedman @BH_Friedman]

Yes. Indeed as @RKelanic recently wrote in the @nytimes , China's economy is less oil-intensive than ours, so we'll probably wreck our own economy before we wreck theirs.

[Jennifer Kavanagh @jekavanagh]

This is a feature not a bug. In a democracy, constituents should get a voice in when the country goes to war. If they do not feel the war is making them safer (as in this case), their tolerance for its costs will be low.

There was no effort to sell the merits of this war to the American public. The arguments offered were unconvincing and muddled, partly because there was no true threat to the U.S. to begin with. It is unsurprising that the public reacted negatively and if that's part of the reason the U.S. accepted a ceasefire this week, that's democracy working, not a sign of weakness.

[Christopher McCallion @chrisjmccallion]

Tim Miller is asking all the right questions here, watch the whole thing

[The Tennessee Holler @TheTNHoller]

WATCH: “Why not just oppose this? We’re gonna trust Trump and Hegseth?”

@Timodc grills Democratic congressman @RepJoshG about why he won’t oppose the war, downplays the role Israel played (even after the NYT article), etc.🤔

Full @BulwarkOnline ep: https://t.co/c9IsTz9XjA

[Christopher McCallion @chrisjmccallion]

Indeed, the term is so synonymous with Washington-speak that it was subtlety caricatured in “The Ghost Writer” in the form of a character who’s a Harvard prof/defense contractor/CIA agent.

[Christopher McCallion @chrisjmccallion]

Bizarre this got past an editor. The author seems unaware that "polarity" has been a core concept (and coined) among American IR scholars since the 60s at least. It describes the structure and behavioral effects of the int'l dist. of power--like monopoly or oligopoly in econ.

[Park MacDougald @hpmcd1]

I wrote for @tabletmag about Arta Moeini, Gladden Pappin, and how “multipolarity”—a term cooked up by a KGB spook to describe a strategy for weakening America—has wormed its way into American right-wing discourse, a story that appears to have something to do with Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.

Link in reply.

[Christopher McCallion @chrisjmccallion]

https://t.co/p5pTdQSpoW

https://t.co/SCgzn4xWIC

[Kelly Grieco @ka_grieco]

Hegseth: "Operation Epic Fury was an historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield--a capital V military victory."

That mindset is the problem. The U.S. won every battle in Vietnam and Afghanistan and still lost both wars. Tactical victories aren’t strategy.

[Defense Priorities @defpriorities]

The Iran war is perhaps the starkest example yet of how the United States' use of force is undermining its desired political objectives.

The White House and the Pentagon crow about how much destruction they have wrought on Iran even as American leverage diminishes, @chrisjmccallion writes in @unherd. https://t.co/z1ENGoo70o

[Christopher McCallion @chrisjmccallion]

@scottstrga Ok but 😬

[John Ganz @lionel_trolling]

I have developed a level of sangfroid about the insanity of the era, but this "whole civilization will die tonight" comment is utter madness on a level that's still shocking.

[Jennifer Kavanagh @jekavanagh]

@AKDay89 What is with the new trend of announcing war crimes in press briefs & social media? Remember the good old days where standard practice was to hide them?

[Emma Ashford @EmmaMAshford]

And a reminder that Easter is a wonderfully appropriate day to advocate for peace. End this war, now. 🕊️

[Defense Priorities @defpriorities]

"The United States should draw a clear distinction between its interests and those of its allies, and not allow its own power to be sapped in costly diversions.

And finally, it must break its perverse addiction to war, and instead turn its attention to the welfare of its own citizens." @chrisjmccallion https://t.co/KnsBv43nJu

[Jennifer Kavanagh @jekavanagh]

The U.S. does not have an alliance with Taiwan.