Russia’s aggression has allowed the Washington mandarins not simply to resuscitate their credo, but also to storm the beachheads of their own adversaries, where the realists and non-interventionists who stress the importance of prudence and caution and the perils of military adventurism have dominated the terrain for a decade or so. No longer. As Andrew J. Bacevich, who has led a one-man crusade against militarism abroad, put it in The Nation, the Washington elites are at it again: “Virtually overnight, the acolytes of American power were hailing the war in Ukraine as signaling the coming restoration of a global Pax Americana. As for Afghanistan: Fuhgettaboutit!”
Already the traditional, hawkish wing of the GOP is mobilizing to once more promote the idea of American supremacy overseas. On Monday, the National Review Institute, for example, plans to host a forum on foreign affairs at the National Press Club with the Reaganesque title “Recommitting To Peace Through Strength.” The speakers will include stalwart Republican hawks such as Sen. Tom Cotton, Rep. Mike Gallagher and Elliott Abrams. It’s intended as a counter-blast to the recent “Up From Chaos” conference at the Washington Marriott that featured J.D. Vance, Sen. Rand Paul, Michael Anton and others on the Trumpian right who are averse to foreign entanglements in Ukraine and elsewhere. Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger is proposing a bill to authorize Biden to deploy troops in Ukraine to restore its “territorial integrity” should Putin use chemical or nuclear weapons.
And as during and immediately after the Cold War, the push is bipartisan. Former Obama Defense Department official Evelyn Farkas, for example, has just been appointed executive director of the Washington-based McCain Institute. Farkas has declared, “We must not only condemn Russia’s illegal occupations of Ukraine and Georgia, but we must demand a withdrawal from both countries by a certain date and organize coalition forces willing to take action to enforce it.” She added, “Americans, with our European allies, must use our military to roll back Russians — even at risk of direct combat.” Sen. Chris Coons, a close Biden ally, has stated that America should contemplate “when we are willing to go the next step and to send not just arms but troops to the aid in defense of Ukraine.”
Another sign that the Blob is regrouping comes in the form of the regular hour-long phone meetings on Ukraine and Russia that the Biden administration has been conducting since February with leading Washington think-tanks, including the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Atlantic Council, the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), and the German Marshall Fund. The briefers from the administration have included National Security Council official Eric Green and Defense Department official Laura K. Cooper.
What’s the aim of these sessions? According to one participant, it’s possible to ask pointed questions, but “the whole point is to carry water for the administration. They’re buttering up the think-tank community. They want it to defend them publicly. They send follow up emails that reinforce the cycle of affirmation.”
NSC official Amanda Ensour is responsible for email blasts to the participants that contain what is called “notable commentary” relating to Ukraine and Russia that fortifies the administration’s stances. These Washington think-tanks — in particular the Atlantic Council and CEPA — play a role in both influencing administration policy and the public perception of it. The Atlantic Council, for example, has a number of former ambassadors,…
Read More: How Biden is Getting the Foreign-Policy Blob on His Side