VIDEO: Drones, bombs, and guns won't eradicate COVID-19 | Responsible Statecraft

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Analysis | Global Crises

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Political leaders keep saying that the United States is on a war footing as it confronts COVID-19. But the military is the wrong tool to address it, even if war spending is — in part — what got the U.S. into this health crisis. As Costs of War Co-Director and Quincy Institute board member Catherine Lutz explains, we need to fundamentally rethink what national security means so it can focus civilian solutions toward very real societal risks many are currently experiencing — ill health and inequality. Watch:

This video is adapted from an op-ed by Lutz and Neta C. Crawford that originally appeared in the Hill.

Analysis | Global Crises

Trump, George w. Bush, Bill Clinton

Top photo credit: President Donald Trump (Trump White House/public domain) ; George W Bush (National Archives/public domain); President Bill Clinton (Clinton presidential library/public domain)

All aboard America's strategic blunder train. Next stop: Iran

Washington Politics

With not just one — but two — carrier battle groups now steaming in circles somewhere off the coast of Oman out of the range of Iranian missiles, we are all left with the head-scratching question: what is it, exactly, that the United States hopes to accomplish with another round of air strikes on Iran? Trump hasn’t told us.

The latest crisis du jour with Iran illustrates the strategic swamp willingly stepped into not just by Donald Trump but his predecessors as well. The swamp is built on a singular and hopelessly misguided assumption: that the use of force either by stand-off, limited strikes from 12,000 feet or even invasions will somehow solve complex political problems on the ground below. The United States today sits shivering, gripped with this runaway swamp fever — with no relief in sight.

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Arab and Gulf State leaders

Top photo credit: urkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan arrived in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, at the invitation of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for a visit aimed at discussing bilateral relations and issues of common interest. February 3, 2026. (Reuters)

Why Arab states are terrified of US war with Iran

As an American attack on Iran seems increasingly inevitable, America’s allies in the Persian Gulf — the very nations hosting U.S. bases and bracing anxiously for an Iranian blowback — are terrified of escalation and are lobbying Washington to stop it .

The scale of the U.S. mobilization is indeed staggering. As reported by the Responsible Statecraft’s Kelley Vlahos, at least 108 air tankers are in or heading to the CENTCOM theater. As military officers reckon, strikes can now happen “at any moment.” These preparations suggest not only that the operation may be imminent, but also that it could be more sustainable and long-lasting than a one-off strike in Iranian nuclear sites last June.

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