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David T Jones
David T. Jones is a retired State Department Senior Foreign Service Career Officer and a frequent contributor to American Diplomacy. During a career that spanned over 30 years, he concentrated on politico-military issues, serving for the Army Chief of Staff. He is co-author of Uneasy Neighborrs, a study of American-Canadian bilateral concerns and has published several hundred articles, columns, and reviews on U.S. - Canadian bilateral issues and general foreign policy.
David vs. DavidCanada's election: Harper lacking full support, but still likely to triumph
Despite not having the support of 60 per cent of Canadians, chances are still good he'll walk away with the October 19 election win.
- David vs. David
U.S. Election: GOP candidates have major disadvantages going against big-name Clinton
There are still 16 months before the U.S. presidential election, but you might think it was just around the corner with all the campaign frenzy that’s running, if not in high gear, at far higher RPMs than one would believe justified.
- David vs. David
U.S.-Canada relations: Keystone has cooled an already frosty relationship
Our bilateral relationship is akin to a Ferris wheel (round and round/up and down/where it stops nobody knows). But if the sobriquet of “best friends—like it or not” is the paradigm, we are certainly well into the “not” category. Irritations are becoming problems; problems are evolving toward crises.
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Obama’s Israel-Iran nuclear problem: The United States has nothing but bad choices
A metaphorical gauntlet lies in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue. Thrown by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his speech to a joint session of Congress on Mar. 3, the gauntlet is the challenge of how to address the Iranian nuclear program and prevent the development of nuclear weapons.
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Election reform: Complaints about money and electoral districts are for 'losers'
There is that old maxim, “Where you stand is where you sit.” And the cry for election “reform” is invariably the province of losers.
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Working with China: U.S. needs to push back against China's growing dominance
Chinese military construction and verbal aggression appear directed at obtaining pre-eminence in East Asia, disconcerting U.S. allies in the region and challenging the United States’ long taken-for-granted hegemony. The U.S. needs a put-China-back-in-the-box foreign policy approach.
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Support our troops: America's veterans expect the best, but it comes at a steep price
Veterans’ benefits have become one of the “third rails” of U.S. federal/social spending that is untouchable with expenditures beyond criticism and budgets always rising.
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After Paris: No more politeness, the time for action is at hand
We must accept that we are at war. A long, brutal war is in the offing, during which we will have a substantial reservoir of citizens that hate our societies nested firmly within them.
- David vs. David
The world in 2015: Entering the new year in peace and prosperity
With relative calm the world over, Canadians can look forward to building on some of the successes we've seen in 2014.
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Ferguson: African-Americans are responsible for creating real change in the U.S.
Circumstances remind one of the old wry observation, “Little did I know that when I started to drain the swamp that I would be up to my hips in alligators.” Our racial swamp seems to produce multiple generations of angry alligators.
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Putin flexes his muscles: It's best to ignore the Russian leader's manoeuvring
Essentially, if you have armed forces, you must exercise them. Personnel changes regularly; new soldiers, sailors, and airmen need to become familiar with equipment and tactics. Old personnel require refresher training – or if switched to new assignments, need to learn them with hands-on experience.
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Terrorism in Canada: Time to pull our heads out of the sand and attack the terrorist threats
The terrorists’ attacks in Quebec and on Parliament Hill are wake up calls only to those willfully asleep for many years. Ever since 9/11, Canadians have lived an ostrich-like existence regarding terrorism.
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Turkey in the crosshairs: The U.S. must mobilize and strike regardless of Turkey's stance
It is time to talk turkey about Turkey. Ankara, Turkey's capital, has been the proverbial elephant in the Middle East annex for years – particularly since the struggle to replace Syria’s president-dictator Bashar Assad began in 2011.
- David vs. David
Hong Kong: Picking a fight with China probably isn't a good idea
Watching events in Hong Kong play out – even from thousands of miles away – left an anticipatory sick twinge in one’s stomach. Their conclusion now appears more likely to end with a whimper than a bang.
- David vs. David
ISIS: Half-measures won't work, the West needs to go all-in
Perhaps this is the best Obama can do. His 15-minute, address on Sept. 10 was as uncertain a trumpet as a president has sounded when taking the United States to war. We did not see a “warrior” emerge from the closet, but rather a bewildered president beset by a metastatic foreign policy cancer that he thought had been excised.
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David Jones: Canada has water to spare and should look into selling it
The reality is Canada has the world’s greatest reserve of fresh water. It should be handled as any product – sold to the highest bidder.
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ISIS: America's piecemeal approach won't suffice in eliminating vicious Islamic uprising
It appears as if Washington has made a decision to confront the “Islamic State” by force of arms. Although so far we have struggled to find an appropriate label for it: the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS), the label is irrelevant. What we have, regardless of the nomenclature, is a terror apparatus that makes Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda operations look like malicious Boy Scouts.
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WWI: An almost needless war that we hardly remember and will unlikely repeat
Now that all who managed its politics and all that fought its battles are dead, we are left to slog through “What did it mean?” aftermath. Nobody is alive to gainsay from direct, personal experience these weighty pontifications.
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The Putin problem: Russia holds all the cards, the West has to learn to live with it
We have watched the world’s feckless, fumbling efforts to control Russian President Vladimir Putin drive to control developments in Ukraine and ultimately the “old” Soviet empire. To no avail – nor is there any real expectation of such.
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Hillary Clinton for president: She will run, she will win, but she will struggle
The Hillary Inevitability, far in advance of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, has a “déjà vu all over again” atmospheric. That's because 2008 was really supposed to be Hillary’s year.