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Stephen Walt

@stephenWalt114k followers

Harvard professor, realist, FOREIGN POLICY columnist. For speaking engagements, contact John Bute at john@chartwellspeakers.com.

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1Sep 22, '23It's easy to understand why many people sympathize with Ukraine and want to support it against Russia. But the correct moral calculus on this issue is harder to discern, even for t79.2×1.4M1k295417
2Jul 6, '23If you're alarmed about a possible Chinese "base" on Cuba, you might begin to grasp why Russians from across the political spectrum saw Ukraine joining NATO one day as a threat. Do76.1×1.4M5.5k1.2k208
3Dec 9, '23As a realist, I recognize that sometimes there are tradeoffs between legitimate security interests and moral considerations. That said, I am finding it hard to understand how any s58.5×1M8.6k2.2k493
4Sep 30, '24If someone bombed the United States and killed 1000 people, I doubt US officials would call it “limited.”45.8×818k31k5.3k480
5Oct 26, '24Cancelling my @washingtonpost subscription was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made.45.8×817k5954340
6Jul 20, '23The decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine shows how quickly foreign policy liberals abandon their principles when pressed. I don't mind their being inconsistent, but I wish40.6×726k1.5k414159
7Sep 28, '24This is pretty simple. If you don't want someone to do something, you don't give them the means to do it. One must therefore conclude the US government does not object to what Isra26.9×481k9.1k2.5k362
8Nov 19, '23I know they won't say so openly, but I wonder how many people in the White House & NSC realize what a train wreck their Middle East policy is.17.9×320k2.3k575103
9Feb 25, '24Quite a sobering thread.17.3×309k1.4k398185
10Jan 7, '24Why #Gaza is such a problem for #Biden: in 2020 a big advantage for Biden was the perception that he was a fundamentally decent person whereas #Trump was clearly incompetent and cr15.8×282k3.8k962178
11Jan 2, '24I can’t decide which possibility bothers me more: 1) that US foreign policy officials genuinely believe what they keep saying, or 2) that they know what they are saying is hypocrit15.6×279k3.3k981173
12May 28, '24If somebody was doing to Israelis what the IDF is currently doing to #Gaza, @TheAtlantic would run a story a week demanding that the US intervene to stop it and that the ICJ, ICC, 13.2×235k2.5k699100
13Jan 21, '24It’s interesting that all those hardliners who complain that US “credibility” requires a forceful response to every challenge are silent as Netanyahu gives America a middle finger 12.9×230k2.3k688103
14Oct 11, '18We should all be angry about what appears to be a blatant act of murder by Saudi Arabia, but notice that the senseless killing of one well-connected dissident journalist has trigge12.2×06.1k2.2k21
15Feb 27, '22I am reminded of Sun Tzu's dictum that one should "build a golden bridge for your enemy to retreat across." Unity, resolution, and continued pressure on Russia are necessary, but s11.2×06.5k1.1k212
16May 26, '24Serious question: has anyone in the Biden administration explained how its policy on #Gaza is making the United States more secure, more prosperous, or more admired around the worl10.7×190k3.3k890145
17Jan 28, '24Even I seem to have underestimated Washington’s ability to keep making the same foreign policy mistakes no matter who is in the White House.10.6×189k2.1k45393
18Sep 5, '24By now it is clear that there is nothing #Netanyahu could do or say that would lead @SecBlinken to withhold U.S. support. A more ineffectual approach to diplomacy is hard to imagin9.8×176k2.4k687104
19Nov 13, '24Marco Rubio's greatest asset as future US SecState is how far @SecBlinken lowered the bar.9.7×174k2.4k56487
20Nov 17, '24Noam Chomsky's latest book is not perfect, but it tells you more about US foreign policy than a lot of the pablum that US officials write to justify their actions.9.5×169k1.2k352515
21Oct 9, '23Re the shocking and depressing events of the weekend, I am reminded once again of W.H. Auden: ‘I and the public know/What all schoolchildren learn,/Those to whom evil is done/Do ev9.1×162k51012169
22Oct 14, '24I wonder if other world leaders are asking themselves: "what can I do to make Joe Biden so angry that he'll send me $18 billion in military aid and a bunch of missile defense syste8.8×157k2.8k699105
23Jul 24, '24Recipe for an improved U.S. Middle East policy: 1) listen carefully to PM Netanyahu's speech to Congress. 2) Do the opposite of whatever he recommends. This would be better for the8.1×145k1.6k42871
24Jun 24, '13If Snowden were Chinese or Iranian, had leaked info about their spying and then sought asylum in US, we'd grant it and call him a hero.8.1×07833.1k0
25Oct 8, '24Some of us have not been mute and have tried to shine a light on what is happening, but the general point stands.7.6×135k94720775
26Jan 18, '24Does the Netanyahu government get up every morning and ask itself: “Hmmm…what can we do to embarrass the Biden administration today?”7.4×132k56911421
27Jan 3, '21The scariest thing about the GOP Senators’ absurd election protest is that they genuinely believe it’s in their political interest to make accusations that they all know are basele6.8×04.5k5587
28Oct 26, '21I have some unsolicited advice for all Americans: don’t watch cable news. Not @FoxNews. Not @CNN. Not @MSNBC. Or anybody else. Read a book or a magazine or a decent newspaper or go6.8×03.8k78134
29Oct 17, '24Re Israeli war on Lebanon: US spokesman says “We do not want to see entire villages destroyed. We don’t want to see civilian homes destroyed. We don’t want to see civilian building6.7×120k2.2k625113
30Oct 25, '17I don't know about you, but when someone describes themselves as a "very intelligent person," I tend to assume the opposite. #trump6.7×04k7960
31Aug 19, '21A lot of smart people seem to have lost their bearings this week. If the era of US primacy is ending—a highly debatable proposition—it’s not because we are finally leaving #Afghani6.0×03.6k64946
32May 21, '24Realists oppose Israel's war on #Gaza (and US support for it) on both moral and strategic grounds. This shouldn't surprise you. Latest FP column here:5.7×102k539225197
33Oct 16, '17Here's an intriguing counterfactual: imagine that every pundit who advocated for the Iraq War in 2003 had been let go and replaced by someone who had opposed it. WSJ, WaPo, and NYT5.7×02.9k9541
34Jul 4, '17In a stunning historical twist, some 241 years after Declaration of Independence, US has its own mad king.4.9×02.2k9941
35Aug 27, '24Daniel Levy nails it: "Netanyahu is a loose cannon, which Kamala Harris should have no interest in reloading." Much wisdom here:4.9×87k857328115
36Dec 28, '23I wrote this article 2-1/2 years ago. Holds up pretty well, I'd say.4.7×84k663264154
37Feb 22, '22Just a reminder that one can believe that Russia’s present actions are wholly illegitimate and also believe that a different set of US policies over the past several decades would 4.1×02.3k47353
38Jan 3, '20Just imagine how we’d react if some adversary assassinated a member of the Joint Chiefs, an Undersecretary of State, or the DNI.4.0×02k62114
39Nov 22, '18#Trump claims Saudi Arabia is "a great ally in our very important fight against Iran." As usual, he has it backwards. In fact, it is our Mideast allies who are using the US in THEI3.9×01.9k6375
40Apr 26, '24A must-read essay by Ian Lustick revealing the lengths Israel's backers will go to silence anyone who challenges their narrative. Lustick is a remarkable scholar, and we should be 3.8×68k621288321
41May 13, '21Dear @SecBlinken: If you're going to "place democracy and human rights at the center of our foreign policy" (as you told the UN Human Rights Council), you'll need to rethink your e3.7×02k52317
42Mar 10, '24As #Netanyahu again defies #Biden, where are all the neocons and other hardliners who used to insist that tolerating others’ defiance would permanently jeopardize American “credibi3.5×62k71323351
43Apr 20, '17US invaded Iraq, dismantled Libya, interfered w/o success in Yemen & Somalia & bungled I-P peace process. Yet Iran causes all the trouble?3.4×09849040
44Jan 20, '17My fellow Americans: you are now about to participate in a giant, uncontrolled, social science experiment.3.2×01k7910
45Jan 5, '24He's denounced it, but has anyone asked NSC spokesman John Kirby if he actually read South Africa's 83 pp. application to the #ICJ re the possible genocide being conducted by Israe3.1×55k59916226
46May 23, '24Kennan’s assessment of US leaders during Vietnam War rings true today: they were “like men in a dream,” incapable of “any realistic assessment of their own acts.” (From B. Tuchman,3.0×54k52719862
47Feb 5, '19One of the most persistent oddities in American politics is the belief that government institutions are terrible at providing domestic benefits but nearly infallible and should the3.0×01.5k47219
48Nov 13, '24Looking at Trump's national security picks, seems like he's going for people who lack the standing, authority, backbone, or wisdom to stand up to him, no matter what he decides to 2.9×51k57213859
49Aug 17, '22The risks of escalation in Ukraine may be greater than you--or many policymakers--think. See here:2.8×0713247105
50Dec 24, '21US foreign policy experts routinely inflate minor threats, yet they don't seem to understand that much weaker countries (e.g., Russia) can have genuine security fears too. Acknowle2.8×01.5k28649
51Feb 1, '19After Max Boot's latest self-own, one is forced to ask yet again: why are the oped pages of the @washingtonpost, @nytimes , & @WSJ reserved solely for #neocons and liberal inte2.7×01.3k4178
52Apr 7, '17Boy, didn't take long for #Trump to discover what Clinton, Bush, & Obama learned: air strikes easy way to look tough w/o fixing anything.2.7×09576410
53Sep 25, '24If Congress took its duties seriously, it would invite @SecBlinken to Capitol Hill to testify to why he lied to them re Israel's blocking of humanitarian relief in Gaza. Not holdin2.6×47k74429250
54Feb 26, '17Every day it amazes me how so many citizens of world's most powerful & secure country believe US faces grave and imminent foreign threats.2.6×01.1k4970
55Dec 10, '16Shocking that Russia tried to influence US election. I mean, WE would NEVER interfere in another state's internal political processes....2.5×06616120
56May 8, '18Trump’s Iran speech may have higher ratio of falsehoods to truth than Colin Powell’s famous speech to the UN Security Council re Iraq.2.4×08455711
57Jun 29, '21A lot of US foreign policy experts are worried about #China's rise. Me too. But how many of these experts have reflected on the fact that China hasn't been fighting wars in lots of2.4×01.2k29924
58Oct 15, '20Every now and then I ponder this peculiar fact: you are more likely to jeopardize your career in the US foreign policy establishment by being outspokenly in favor of peace than by 2.3×01.3k27420
59Jun 25, '20A country that cannot convince its own citizens to wear masks to halt a pandemic has no business toppling foreign governments and trying to remake whole societies that it barely un2.2×01.1k34617
60Apr 5, '17I don't know what #Trump will do re Syria. But I'm betting it will be some loud, well-publicized, and strategically meaningless airstrikes.2.2×08503990
61Nov 20, '16By electing Trump, voters have undermined U.S. position & influence in Asia in ways that may be impossible to regain. Ever.2.2×06484940
62Aug 26, '20I'm no alarmist, but when a president & his administration repeatedly breaks certain laws w/impunity, there is no reason to believe they won't break bigger ones if they think t2.2×01k32911
63Jul 6, '20I would like to congratulate my colleagues at universities around the world. You will now get to teach a lot of wonderful non-US students who would have otherwise come to school he2.2×01.3k26116
64Sep 25, '181, North Korea has nuclear weapons; #Trump fawns over Kim. 2, Iran has 0 nuclear weapons, reduced its stockpile, dismantled centrifuges; gets threatened with regime change. Questio2.2×08774321
65May 22, '18I’m still a bit surprised #Pompeo didn’t demand that Iran agree to open a #Trump-branded golf course in Teheran AND pay for the wall with Mexico.2.1×09953512
66Aug 16, '21Disengagement from Afghanistan should have been managed far better, but I don’t get the hysterical claims that the tragedy there has demolished US credibility. Not fighting for les2.0×01.1k18936
67Mar 1, '22Thread: I have been trying to think through where the war in #Ukraine might be headed, and what has to happen to bring it to an end. Here are a few tentative thoughts:1.8×0729241128
68Mar 12, '20There are many scary aspects of the current situation, but one of the scariest is the possibility--make that high probability--that even now #POTUS45 does not realize how badly he 1.8×01.1k2041
69Jul 1, '18News that NK is expanding nuclear capacity is irrelevant to #trump. In his mind, the episode with Kim has aired and is over and now it’s time to move on to the episode featuring gu1.8×08233164
70Oct 16, '17One cannot overstate how dumb the neoconservative idea of invading Iraq was. They claimed it was going to "transform the ME" and it sure did; just not in the way they promised. And1.7×05423830
71Feb 25, '21If the Biden administration screws up rejoining the #JCPOA by insisting Iran "make the first move"--even though it was the US that left the deal in 2018 while Iran was still in ful1.7×083124011
72Oct 19, '18Why is it so hard for Thomas Friedman to simply say “I’m sorry; I got fooled by MBS. I was wrong.” We all make mistakes; the question is how we react when our errors are exposed.1.6×08652021
73Jun 25, '19People who say "Kushner's 'peace plan' won't work" are missing the point. It wasn't supposed to work--if that means facilitating a just & lasting peace. Its purpose was to buy 1.5×05673225
74Apr 25, '211. Here is a thread on research projects that don't go as we might have hoped.1.5×0649148120
75Dec 26, '18People who say "post-US Middle East" is becoming unstable are forgetting: 1) Arab-Israeli wars in '56, '67, '69-70, '73, '82; 2) Iran-Iraq War; 3) assorted assassinations (or attem1.5×061428312
76Mar 16, '18Rumored McMaster/Bolton swap very worrisome but let’s be clear: Bolton (& Pompeo) are not pariahs inside Beltway. AEI, FDD, WSJ oped page, etc., are part of establishment too (1.4×05552764
77Mar 18, '17Silver lining: Trump Admin may discredit forever the idea that "business experience" is a great qualification for presidency.1.4×06422360
78May 1, '18The Bush Administration was better at inventing a phony case for war with Iraq than the Trump team is at conjuring up a phony case for war with Iran. But doesn’t mean they won’t ev1.4×06312632
79Feb 27, '22Along with millions of others, I hope Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine fails. The Ukrainian resistance to it is awe-inspiring. But triumphalism and calls for regime change in M1.4×077517116
80Dec 15, '18Seems to me if a magazine proudly lobbied for a disastrous war that cost 1000s of lives & trillions of $, it deserves to go out of biz. Its founders, editors, and chief writers1.3×06482153
81Apr 13, '17To repeat: US failures in Greater Middle East aren't due to our not blowing enough things up, but to dearth of effective diplomacy. #MOAB1.3×04863120
82Jun 26, '21I find it remarkable that so many people in the US national security community still think the United States should keep fighting in Afghanistan--despite 20 years of failure--even 1.3×06641618
83Jun 15, '18Dear @realDonaldTrump: I understand you'd like "your people" to "sit up in attention" like North Koreans. But we are not "your people." You work for us. If this arrangement does no1.3×06382330
84Jan 3, '20#Trump's latest blunder re Iran is another example of America's growing inability to "think strategically": to set clear goals & devise a coherent approach that takes other's r1.3×058121518
85Jan 2, '21One big lesson to draw from the past 10 months—including the so-far disappointing roll-out of vaccines—is that complex modern societies need effective public institutions led by co1.3×07121446
86Nov 8, '20Query: how many foreign policy jobs in #BidenHarris admin will go to people who opposed: -Iraq War -Afghanistan "surge" -open-ended NATO enlargement -intervention in Libya & Sy1.3×058917818
87Oct 5, '18A feeling that never gets old: when a copy of your new book arrives.1.2×072212511
88Jul 5, '22I sometimes think the US foreign policy establishment is just really, really good at creating problems that it must then work overtime (and at considerable cost) to try to solve.1.2×06911316
89Jul 31, '19Based on the CNN Dem debate moderators’ choice of questions, I have wasted my entire adult life studying international politics, national security, and foreign policy.1.2×06671374
90Nov 1, '20At the present moment, the single most important difference between Democrats and Republicans is that the former believe all legitimate votes should be counted, and the latter are 1.1×05571765
91Aug 22, '17If diplomacy is to be part of new strategy, it would be nice to fully fund the State Department.1.1×05542040
92Jun 2, '20That mournful sound you hear? It’s the idea of “American Exceptionalism” dying.1.1×05121446
93Oct 24, '18Who could possibly have predicted that the election of a hate-spewing, violence-endorsing, and fear-mongering President would be followed by attempted attacks on some of the people1.1×05261842
94Nov 5, '20This is a very sane and smart piece debunking claims of voter fraud.1.0×048112952
96Jun 29, '21Disappointing to realize that "America is Back" also means America is back to bombing faraway lands, and still with no clear purpose, plan, or strategy.1.0×05461375
97May 18, '21I hate to say this, but if the Biden administration is trying to show that the US is incapable of a constructive role dealing w/Israel & Palestine and trying to undercut its ef1.0×05741267
98Oct 24, '19Ask yourself: would those unpatriotic, law-breaking Republicans have disrupted the impeachment hearings (by busting into a secure facility), if they believed the witnesses’ testimo1.0×05201502
99Sep 30, '19Remember: 1. Nobody made Trump send his personal lawyer to Ukraine to chase conspiracy theories. 2. Nobody made Trump hold up military aid to Ukraine. 3. Nobody made Trump ask Ukra0.9×04451353
100Jan 6, '19Re Alexandria Ocasio Cortez: I wonder if JFK faced the same level of skepticism and disdain about his relative youth when he entered Congress back in 1947. He was 30, one year olde0.8×0492790

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