Jacob Heilbrunn

Jacob Heilbrunn is a senior editor at The National Interest where he writes a blog.


Essays

There are growing signs of a divergence in American-Israeli relations and interests. 

Germany is no longer Europe’s most troublesome player. It’s now an indispensable nation. The power of this transformation is personified by Chancellor Angela Merkel and her delicate political and diplomatic balancing act.

The prophet armed, Samantha Power, has now drafted Obama into her crusade against mass slaughter. Liberal hawks and neocons, reunited. Make way for a profound foreign-policy transformation.

Germany was once the most powerful nation on the Continent. Now it is spiraling toward mediocrity.

Mismanaged for eight years by the Bush administration, the Republican Party is in peril. Neoconservative table scraps are neither appropriate nor wise. But the GOP has another foreign-policy tradition to which it can turn. Presidents from Eisenhow

Reviews

How can an Israeli PM mobilize U.S. politicians against a U.S. president committed to Israeli interests? Beinart's provocative answer: U.S. Jewish leaders commandeered Jewish organizations and turned them into agencies for Likud interests.

Jonathan Steinberg’s new biography depicts a Bismarck rife with contradictions. Still, it comes dangerously close to conflating the mad Junker’s cautious conservatism with the führer’s nihilism. There is more to Germany than destiny alone.

For the great historian Hugh Trevor-Roper—whose poison pen spared no ego and whose toxic overconfidence relegated him to a perpetual almost-ran—refusing to become the false prophet of a grand new theory of history was his greatest triumph.

As the GOP's leading contender in 2012, can Sarah Palin channel the optimism of her hero Reagan without abandoning her bromides against the tyranny of the ruling class?

The conservative movement is cracking up—just look at three memoirs of former administration officials. These new books may engage in justification and self-aggrandizement, but they do prescribe salves for fixing the conservative experiment.

Commentary

Germany and Indonesia certainly have a radical Islam problem. Stymieing
the construction of mosques here is a surefire way to create one in the
U.S. as well.

Christiane Amanpour debuted on “This Week” yesterday. Is she headed for her first big failure?

Obama’s chances for reelection may well hinge on his ability to forge a tax armistice.

Despite arguments to the contrary, Obama has no illusions about America's omnipotence in the war.

Will the 2012 election be tailor-made for Sarah Palin?

Blog Posts

The venerable institution's leader is a natural ally for the Kentucky senator.

The American eminence gris is best not invoked in defense of neoconservatism.

The second term is already mired in scandals.

The internal debate needs to get more thoughtful.

Russia might be dialing down the resistance.

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May 20, 2013