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Ben Friedman
@BH_Friedman
Policy Director @defpriorities. Former stopper and B-Side Lounge patron. For restraint, pluralism, and the Celtics.
DC mostly. Boston in spirit.
scholar.google.com/citations?user…
Joined February 2017
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  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    Apr 5, 2022
    "For some in NATO, it’s better for the Ukrainians to keep fighting, and dying, than to achieve a peace that comes too early." At least the Post is reporting on this sentiment, which prominent people assured me doesn't exist when I recently criticized it.
    NATO says Ukraine to decide on peace deal with Russia — within limits
    From washingtonpost.com
  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    Sep 4, 2020
    My favorite genre of Trump tweets is where he finds out what his administration is doing and says he's stopping it.
    user avatar
    Donald J. Trump
    @realDonaldTrump
    Sep 4, 2020
    The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch. It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!
  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    Aug 17, 2021
    Afghanistan is arguably at peace for the first time in 40 years because the government we backed lost.
    user avatar
    AFP News Agency
    @AFP
    Aug 17, 2021
    #BREAKING Afghan war has ended, everyone pardoned: Taliban spokesman
  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    May 7, 2019
    This is how to tell the military to commit and tolerate war crimes.
    user avatar
    NBC News
    @NBCNews
    May 7, 2019
    BREAKING: President Trump has granted a pardon to a former first lieutenant in the US Army who was convicted in 2009 of unpremeditated murder after killing a suspected al-Qaeda terrorist prisoner in Iraq. nbcnews.to/2VjGmV7
  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    Feb 27, 2022
    The same people who say Russia was always lying about seeing NATO expansion as threatening are now talking about using this war to foment regime change in Russia and see no contradiction there.
  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    Feb 25, 2020
    As Coronvirus hits Iran, remember: US sanctions make medical supplies unattainable for many Iranians due to shortfalls and high prices. US officials refused to reassure banks that they could process medical purchases without sanction.
    iran, mask, coronavirus, covid-19, tehran
    U.S. Sanctions Hamper Iran's Battle to Contain Coronavirus
    From newsweek.com
  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    Nov 17, 2020
    What a feckless little parting shot from the Trump admin. This does nothing for US security or Yemenis but will presumably create a minor hassle for the Biden people tasked with undoing it to undo any successful disruption of humanitarian aid.
    user avatar
    Jack Detsch
    @JackDetsch
    Nov 16, 2020
    Scoop: The Trump admin is set to designate Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels as a terror group, a move that is likely to disrupt aid efforts & upend UN-backed peace efforts in the war torn country, officials & diplos say. @columlynch, @RobbieGramer & me foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/16/tru…
  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    Aug 27, 2021
    It blows me away how the case against leaving Afghanistan depends on pretending that up until two weeks ago it was basically a nice liberal place untroubled by massive human rights abuses, terrorism, assassinations, or disharmony among occupying powers.
    user avatar
    Charles Lister
    @Charles_Lister
    Aug 26, 2021
    In many respects, #Afghanistan represents the 1st real implementation of the "ending forever wars" doctrine. The results so far? - Crumbling of a democratic government; - #Taliban rule; - #AlQaeda ecstatic; - Emergency mass evacuation; - Unprecedented transatlantic divisions.
  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    Sep 19, 2022
    Evidently the US military was creating fake persons on social media to do pro-Ukraine propaganda, a category of disinformation I was told didn't exist. washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    May 20, 2020
    Pompeo’s blustering that he’s not taking ethics advice from Senator Menendez is funny because he had the guy he’s supposed to take ethics advice from fired for investigating his ethics. cnbc.com/2020/05/20/pom…
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    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    May 11, 2022
    Is it still forbidden to say that unconditional and seemingly bottomless western support might encourage Ukrainian overreach in diplomatic efforts at a settlement and tragically prolong the war?
    user avatar
    Justin Logan
    @JustinTLogan
    May 11, 2022
    Ukraine says the war won't end until Crimea is returned and Russia pays reparations. politico.com/news/2022/05/1…
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    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    Jan 15, 2024
    Very predictably, attacking the Houthis failed to stop them from attacking shipping, and they have instead escalated; now they are targeting US ships. Now we are left deciding whether to back down and look feckless, or pointlessly escalate.
    File photo of USS Laboon, which was targeted by missile from Houthi-run area of Yemen
    Yemen: US shoots down missile from Houthi-run area fired towards warship
    From bbc.com
    91K
  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    Mar 7, 2022
    This is right, but also: -Every single leader of a US adversary is widely cast as irrational in US media: Kim Jung Un, Saddam, Qaddafi, Milosevic, the “Mullahs,” the Taliban, Assad. -This portrayal is way to oppose diplomacy: if they’re crazy you can’t negotiate with them.
    user avatar
    Zack Beauchamp
    @zackbeauchamp
    Mar 7, 2022
    1. The debate surrounding Putin's "rationality" suffers from a serious conceptual problem that is leading many to dangerously alarmist conclusions.
  • user avatar
    Ben Friedman
    @BH_Friedman
    Feb 7, 2023
    The people who think the war in Ukraine should continue until the government of Russia is overthrown basically all insist that NATO expansion was never the slightest threat to Russia. What a world.
    71K