Ted Snider

Ted Snider has a graduate degree in philosophy and writes on analyzing patterns in US foreign policy and history.

The 2018 Worldwide Threat Assessment Misses the Mark, Here’s How

On both Iran and North Korea, the Worldwide Threat Assessment is a terrifying document to read – terrifying for the incompetence it reveals.

Ted Snider
By Ted Snider
Director of National Intelligence-designate Dan Coats speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017, prior to testifying at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Associated Press/Alex Brandon

On February 13, the American intelligence community issued its Worldwide Threat Assessment for 2018. It is a frightening document to read, but perhaps not for the reasons you would expect. It is not frightening for the threat to America or the world that it reveals, but rather for its failure to hear or see what U.S. adversaries say or do. On

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America, the Kurds, and History: Only a Pawn in Their Game

It is not known how America will negotiate being caught in the middle of its Kurdish ally in the war in Syria and its NATO ally in Turkey, but history is not exactly whispering assurances in the Kurds’ ear.

Ted Snider
By Ted Snider
Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units, (Y.P.G), stand guard next to American armored vehicles at the Syria-Turkey border, Apri, 2017. (Youssef Rabie Youssef/EPA)

The only thing that has ever been faithful to the Kurds is history: it has faithfully, without fail, betrayed them. The Kurds have been cast in the role of the pawn in powerful countries’ games of chess. They do much of the hard work only to be sacrificed when checkmate is in sight. Most recently, the U.S. rediscovered the Kurds as useful pawns

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The Insanity Strategy: North Korea’s Rational Reaction

A favorite tactic of U.S. propaganda is to label a foreign adversary “crazy” to justify a military attack — as is now happening with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un although his nuclear program really makes logical sense.

Ted Snider
By Ted Snider
A submarine missile is paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea to celebrate the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un, April 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

The “insanity” label that America attaches to North Korea has a lot of political utility. First, it colors the interpretation of everything North Korea does. The consideration of a rational motivation for undesirable actions can be prevented: the actions are assumed to be crazy. Secondly, it makes the target of blame clear. Thirdly, and most

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