Beyond Labels

A 360° Discussion of Foreign, National and Local Policy Issues

Late-summer hiatus

August 15, 2025
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At last Monday’s meeting, we decided to take a few weeks off to enjoy the rest of the summer and “recharge” our enthusiasm for discussing “issues of the day.” Keep a few notes of topics you’d like to discuss when we restart our weekly meetings on September 22, 2025.

We look forward to seeing you then!

7/28: EU Defense Strategy?

July 27, 2025
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Having spent the last two meetings discussing national (US) politics, I thought we could turn our attention to Europe:

  • Given the Trump Administration’s uncertain support for the NATO alliance, how should Europe react?
  • Are the European members of NATO sufficiently aligned in their policies/objectives to coordinate well without strong US leadership, or are countries like Hungary likely to cause decision-making gridlock?
  • Can Europe really achieve the 5% of GDP defense spending objective without undue political backlash? If they do, how? Higher taxes? Adjustments to social spending? What will these moves do to economic growth?
  • Can Europe establish a unified front vis-a-vis Ukraine? Russia? China?
  • What will be the implications for US policy (and the US economy) if the Europeans do become more independent and self-sufficient?

More background material about the Israel-Iran war

June 21, 2025
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if we continue to talk about this on Monday, here are a couple of links to recent articles:

  1. What does international law say about the legitimacy of Israel’s attack on Iran? Here’s a link to an article in the 20 June edition of The New York Times analyzing the legality of Israel’s attack on Iran, and of the legality of the potential participation of the US in that attack.
  2. What are the potential risk to the US if it participates in the attack on Iran? Here’s a link to an article in the 18 June edition of The New York Times describing some of those risks.
  3. Here’s a link to an article in The 18 June edition of Politico with brief statements by a variety of people (including Dennis Ross and Ryan Crocker) describing their views of the risks to the US from its potentianal participation in this war.

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