Max Fisher

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

In retrospect, even that narrowest-possible definition of a "Bush doctrine" does not withstand scrutiny. Here's why: — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

"Bush doctrine" just refers to his embrace of unilateral preemptive war and hardly accounts for other major decisions. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

More "doctrines" are often just a grabby way of describing one particular FP policy change, rather than any grand ideology. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

"Truman Doctrine" increasingly looks like just a fancy way of saying Cold War power balancing, rather than some expression of Truman's soul. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

Even the "doctrines" that we learn about in school make less and less sense when viewed with the lens we apply to present-day presidents. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

As time passes, historians, tellingly, take the opposite view: FP largely shaped by a tangle of bureaucratic & structural factors. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

Second, that all presidents have a super-secret, ideology-driven rulebook or decoder ring by which US foreign policy decisions are made. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

...as well as degree to which USFP is shaped by impersonal domestic & intl structural factors. Conflicts with US mythology of our own power. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

This is a standard we'd never apply to other countries but apply to our own bc it lets us ignore emotionally unappealing messiness of FP — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

This is rooted in two ideas, both false. First, that USFP is driven primarily by the sitting president's personality traits and worldview. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

1. Every president's first year brings an avalanche of takes to articulate his "doctrine." Bad news: that is not how foreign policy works. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @mwhanna1: The way that images of civilian victims from the Arab world are processed are too often dependent on their utility to politic… — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@CherylRofer Was just thinking about that. Flattered you remembered it! — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

The idea that symbolic military action will have magical effects on global allies & adversaries has no basis in fact or empirical support. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @AthertonKD: What if, instead of praising the "beauty of our weapons," pundits on cable news said "Tomahawk can't destroy airfields, thi… — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

After years of folks arguing we had to bomb Syria to reassure global allies, that theory, now tested, is rapidly pr… https://t.co/tK1mnlBl9k — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @MicahZenko: US dropped 26,172 bombs in 2016: https://t.co/aDIKZLFEcJ How does 59 more suddenly demonstrate US "resolve," "credibility,… — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @blakehounshell: Not much coming out about the Xi visit. Seems like reports about "tweet able deliverables" may have been wrong. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @mattduss: @Max_Fisher Among the reasons it's interesting: Muqtada's relative Musa Sadr helped legitimize Allawis as Muslims, shoring up… — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @ScottShaneNYT: When you write something so you'll get it yourself: Weren’t Syria’s Chemical Weapons Destroyed? It’s Complicated https:/… — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @Mustafa_salimb: Muqtada Al-Sadr said in a statement Trump attitude will turn Syria into new Vitnam.Calls on Assad to resign — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

Iraq-watchers: Am I wrong to be surprised by this? https://t.co/iOQOtVvgnu — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@wnomikos @zackbeauchamp yes that is a good point. fair to wonder whether he intended to make this political invest… https://t.co/vPVPndfVKc — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@zackbeauchamp @mwhanna1 ABCH always be calling hanna — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @DanielWickham93: Excellent piece by @Max_Fisher on what the study of war tells us about Trump's intervention in Syria https://t.co/qxT6… — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@zackbeauchamp particularly given that SAOs have been explicitly saying the exact opposite, that it’s a one-off — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@zackbeauchamp yeah but you need to do something to establish escalation intent. put assets in-theater, make a poli… https://t.co/o3Mp1tIjAD — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

Seems like the “do something” fallacy taken to its absurd extreme — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

Still confused by argument that the US established anti-CW deterrence by demonstrating it will retaliate with negligibly damaging strikes. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

Worth reading today on Syria: 1. @drfarls https://t.co/fQ7dbrFHHT 2. @abuaardvark https://t.co/oyg7BHNDY6 — PolitiTweet.org