Foreign Policy in Focus

Foreign Policy in Focus is a “Think Tank Without Walls” connecting the research and action of more than 600 scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the United States a more responsible global partner. It is a project of the Institute for Policy Studies. FPIF publishes timely commentaries on U.S. foreign policy, sharp analyses of global issues, and on-the-ground dispatches from around the world. We also are interested in pieces that explore the intersection of foreign policy and culture, and on dispatches from social movements involved in foreign policy.

Militarization

How the Police and the Pentagon Are Bringing Our Wars Home

By William J. Barber and Phyllis Bennis Originally published in Inside Sources. ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Uniformed U.S. soldiers occupied the center of the city, where an armored personnel carrier was stationed at a major intersection. Was it Kabul or Atlanta? A U.S. military helicopter hovered over crowds of unarmed civilians, its down-drafts […]

Epidemics

Business as Usual won’t Survive the Pandemic: The Race to Replace a Dying Neoliberalism

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Walden Bello | – The morning will come When the world is mine. Tomorrow belongs to me! From Cabaret (Foreign Policy in Focus) – In response to the cataclysm occasioned by the coronavirus, three lines of thinking are emerging. One is that the emergency necessitates extraordinary measures, but the basic structure of production and […]

Epidemics

How the Corporate Food System Is Making the Coronavirus Crisis Worse

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Walden Bello | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The global food system has been very much front and center in the COVID-19 story. Everyone, of course, is aware that hunger is closely tracking the virus as its wreaks havoc in both the global North and global South. Indeed, one can say that, […]

Climate Crisis

Unless we Halt Trump’s War on the Environment, the next Pandemic is coming for Us

Foreign Policy in Focus

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Congress is already thinking about how to prevent the next pandemic. See how quickly Cory Booker (D-NJ) has teamed up with Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to write a letter calling for a global ban on “wet markets.” The current pandemic is reputed to have originated in a wet market […]

Epidemics

To Help Stem Coronavirus, Lift the Sanctions on Iran

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Ariel Gold and Medea Benjamin, March 13, 2020. (Foreign Policy in Focus) – U.S. sanctions have gutted Iran’s economy and health system. In a pandemic, that’s a global public health threat. The COVID-19, or coronavirus, pandemic is far from the first proof of how intertwined we are as a global community. The climate crisis […]

Donald Trump

Corporate Media Blackout: Americans need to Hear from Iranians about Life Under Sanctions and Trump’s Attack

Foreign Policy in Focus

Here are a few illuminating and emotionally resonant pieces by real Iranians on life under sanctions, the brutality of war, and the recent crisis.

Climate Crisis

We have a Decade to Slash Carbon Emissions: After That it Gets Harder and much Hotter

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Kelsey Hawkins-Johnson | – (Foreign Policy in Focus) – In the climate talks to come, we need more youth, indigenous, and civil society groups — and fewer oil companies. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned in October 2018 that we have 12 years to keep global temperatures increases at 1.5 degrees Celsius or […]

Donald Trump

A Feminist Alternative to Trump’s Sabre Rattling against Iran

Foreign Policy in Focus

Foreign policy should prioritize the needs of ordinary civilians and civil society — and wars of choice should always be off the table.

Iran

Is Iran an Expansionist Power or Just in Defensive Mode?

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Edward Hunt | – (Foreign Policy in Focus) – The Iranian military is focused on deterring external threats not launching an attack on its adversaries. As the Trump administration continues to incite fears about Iran, portraying the country as an aggressor that is destabilizing the Middle East, a new report by the Defense Intelligence […]