Publications

March 16, 2023

In Iraq, Foreseeable Costs Outweighed Likely Benefits

National Review | The Iraq War was a great, historic error. Stating this bluntly is not a mere matter of antiquarian interest or settling scores....
March 11, 2023

The real and acute threat of a Sino-US conflict over Taiwan

Hindustan Times | India should worry a great deal about a Sino-United States (US) war over Taiwan. To be fair, why it should is not necessarily obvious. After all, the Western Pacific is far from India.......
February 19, 2023

Sturgeon resigns & Chinese spy balloons – The Week in 60 Minutes | SpectatorTV

SpectatorTV | On this week’s show, The Spectator's diary editor James Heale speaks to political editor Katy Balls and Scotland editor Alex Massie about Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation, former Pentagon official Elbridge Colby and journalist Andrew...
February 18, 2023

Bridging the Gap: Priorities for Transatlantic China Policy

Munich Security Conference | ASG, MERICS, and MSC decided to review the state of play and produced an update with the support of members of the reflection group as a contribution to the 2023 Munich Security Conference — “Bridging the Gap.”....
January 25, 2023

Evolving Views on Deterrence as a Security Policy

Orbis | Deterrence offers the United States not only a more effective security policy but also a more moral one than its alternatives—so contended Elbridge Colby in 2007....
November 9, 2022

How America can save Taiwan

UnHerd | Current US policy is setting Washington up for a major crisis with its allies, especially in Europe...
October 22, 2022

無駄にする時間はない 日米は同盟強化へ手を尽くせ (There is no time to waste, Japan and the United States must do everything possible to strengthen the alliance)

Wedge Magazine (Japan) | China responded to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August with large-scale military exercises. What is the path that Japan should take as "Taiwan emergency" becomes more realistic? What is China's internal situation? ...
October 12, 2022

Biden’s ‘Armageddon’ nuclear warning builds on increasing worries about a desperate Putin

USA Today | But one longtime U.S. defense and intelligence official, Elbridge Colby, said Putin's longstanding preoccupation with building up Russia's nuclear capabilities, combined with his current predicament in Ukraine, "leads me to think that it is a serious possibility" that he could detonate some kind of nuclear device, most likely in a battlefield setting....
October 11, 2022

Why Protecting Taiwan Really Matters to the U.S.

TIME | Why is it worthwhile for Americans to defend Taiwan? In very concrete terms, what’s in it for us? At this point, there is widespread agreement among Americans that China is a major threat and that U.S. policy needs to address it. At the same time, though, most Americans are rightly opposed to the forever wars of the past two decades and skeptical of more military interventions....
September 11, 2022

Realism AND Restraint get the test at National Conservatism conference

Responsible Statecraft | MIAMI — Where are national conservatives (mostly associated with the nationalist, populist movement) on China? There is no easy answer for that, though there seems to be a strong inclination towards Donald Trump’s approach before and during his presidency: don’t start any new wars, but if someone wants to start a fight, be ready to clobber them....