Commentary: Republicans Need a New Approach to Foreign Policy

A recent Fareed Zakaria Washington Post op-ed nicely summarized our new reality:

There is a debate within the Republican Party. Some senior figures, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and former vice president Mike Pence, are vigorously making the case for an active and engaged America. But the party’s base seems to be with the isolationists, as can be seen in the tilting stances of the weather-vane speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy (Calif.). From Donald Trump to his copycat, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and the party’s most powerful media ideologist, Tucker Carlson, conservatives are increasingly contemptuous of America’s support for Ukraine and its strong alliance with Europe. Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) told the New York Times that although some Republicans remain staunchly interventionist, “That’s not where the voters are.”

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Tennessee State Rep Files Resolution That Says an AP Article That Accuses the U.S. Military of a ‘Culture of Racism’ Is False

Bud Husley

A new resolution was introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly this week to claim an Associated Press (AP) article on racism in the U.S. Military as untrue. Representative Bud Hulsey (R-Kingsport) sponsored the resolution, which was explained as “Expresses sense of General Assembly that May 2021 Associated Press article alleging “deep-seated racism” and “culture of discrimination” in U.S. military is untrue.”

The resolution claimed the authors of the article did not use proper statistics in their study, and instead “of evidencing a culture of racism, this data, provided by the military, actually makes the opposite case that racism in the U.S. military is uncommon and not a largescale problem.”

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Fort Bliss in Texas Becomes Ground Zero for Resettling Afghan Refugees During Chaotic Exit

Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, is best known as home to the Army’s tank division, the revered Old Ironsides military insignia and the country’s largest military-controlled airspace. But the Biden administration’s botched exit from Afghanistan is turning the vast installation into ground zero for the evacuation of Afghans who spent two decades helping the United States fight the war against terror.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn says the fort is preparing to receive 10,000 Afghan refugees, and military officials have hinted that number could reach much higher.

It’s the second major wave of civilian guests to be hosted at the fort, which began this spring helping the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services Departments to house thousands of unaccompanied minor children who were brought across the border.

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US Missile Defense System Intercepts Medium-Range Missile in Test

The U.S. military said it successfully tested a key missile defense system on Friday, in a milestone that experts say shows a growing U.S. capability to knock down an incoming, medium-range missile from countries like North Korea and Iran. The Aegis system used in the latest test was fitted with a Standard Missile 3 Block IIA (SM-3 IIA) interceptor being developed in a joint venture between Raytheon Co and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. It was the second successful intercept in a row for the SM-3 IIA and will give the U.S. Missile Defense Agency more confidence that it has resolved design flaws that previously caused intercept failures, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The officials said the successful test moved the system closer to production. MDA Director Lieutenant General Sam Greaves described the test as “a superb accomplishment and key milestone.” Riki Ellison, chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a non-profit organization that seeks to promote testing and development of missile defense systems, said the test would also keep plans on track to eventually deploy the system in Poland. The Poland site is part of a planned U.S. missile defense network aimed at deterring an attack…

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