Vox Sentences: Jeb Bush makes his awkward foreign policy debut

1. The Jeb Bush Doctrine

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush speaks to guests at a luncheon hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on February 18, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

• Former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL), as part of his incipient presidential campaign, gave a major foreign-policy address in Chicago.

  [NYT / Jonathan Martin]

• You can watch the whole video and read a summary of his remarks here.

  [Chicago Council on Global Affairs / Richard Longworth]

• Among the more notable points: counterterrorism should "eschew diplomacy and aim instead 'to take them out'"; the US should provide arms to Ukraine; and defense spending should increase.

• Since the content of the speech was largely standard Republican fare, his comments about his brother's administration have gotten more attention.

  [Bloomberg / Michael Bender]

• He said "mistakes were made in Iraq for sure," that the US used WMD intelligence that was "not accurate," and that not securing the country post-invasion was "a mistake."

  [Chicago Council on Global Affairs / Richard Longworth]

• Bush: "I love my father and my brother … But I am my own man and my views are shaped by my own thinking and own experiences."

• That said, it's hard to find differences from his brother's policies; he called for democracy promotion via "liberty diplomacy," a term that brings to mind George W. Bush's "freedom agenda."

  [The Atlantic / David Graham]

• Bush misspoke a number of times in the speech, mixing up Iran and Iraq, referring to "the Ukraine" not simply Ukraine, and calling ISIS caliph Abu Bakr al Baghdadi "the guy that's the supreme leader or whatever his new title is — head of the caliphate."

  [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

• He also overestimated ISIS' strength by an order of magnitude: he said they had 200,000 fighters, when US government estimates are more like 20,000 and 31,500.

• Bush also released the names of 21 foreign-policy specialists advising him; 19 served in his father's or brother's administrations, which isn't too surprising when you consider there hasn't been a non-Bush GOP presidency in 26 years.

  [Washington Post / Philip Bump]

2. Russia's non-invasion of Ukraine continues

A gas pipe burns after being struck by shelling on February 17, 2015 in Myronivskyi, Ukraine. (Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images)

• Pro-Russian militants have seized Debaltseve, a long-contested town in eastern Ukraine.

  [NYT / Andrew Kramer and David Herszenhorn]

• "The size of Debaltseve — it was home to about 25,000 people before the war emptied its streets — belies its strategic importance to rebels as the site of a rail junction connecting their strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk."

  [The Guardian / Alec Luhn]

• Ukrainian soldiers and commanders argue that this past weekend's ceasefire, far from stopping the war, "allowed the separatists to concentrate their forces at Debaltseve and strike even harder."

  [WSJ / James Marson]

• But Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko seems to be gambling that the pullout will reduce fighting going forward: "The retreat appeared to be an acceptance by the Ukrainian leader of a humiliating defeat in exchange for a chance at pushing a shaky truce agreement forward and securing the pullback of heavy weapons."

  [AP / Balint Szlanko and Jim Heintz]

• Even if that happens, taking Debaltseve helps the separatists solidify their control over the East, exactly what skeptics of the ceasefire deal feared would happen.

  [Vox / Max Fisher]

3. Just say no to ISIS

President Barack Obama delivers closing remarks at the conclusion of the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building February 18, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

• The Obama administration is unveiling new programs meant to deter potential recruits to ISIS and other terror groups.

  [NYT / Julie Hirschfeld Davis]

• Obama: "Groups like al Qaeda and ISIL [another name for ISIS] exploit the anger that festers when people feel that injustice and corruption leave them with no chance of improving their lives. The world has to offer today's youth something better."

  [Los Angeles Times / Barack Obama]

• UCSD political scientist Barbara Walter agrees with Obama's diagnosis of causes: ISIS and other extremists "are succeeding because the Middle East is home to some of the most corrupt, ineffective and exclusionary governments in the world."

  [Washington Post / Barbara Walter]

• A USAID program funding Muslim community groups in Indonesia is considered a major success …

  [Washington Post / Abbas Barzegar and Shawn Powers]

• … but counterradicalization is extremely difficult, and there's a lot we don't know. This report by radicalization specialist Peter Neumann is a helpful, nuanced look at the issue.

  [Bipartisan Policy Center / Peter Neumann]

• Among the report's key points: the government should challenge and offer alternatives to al-Qaeda and other groups' ideologies, but involving counterterrorism agencies does more harm than good, as do government pronouncement about what Islam "really" is.

4. Misc.

• French intelligence appears to have created a malware program for spying on IMs named Babar, after the King of the Elephants.

  [Vice / Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai]

• If your company's COO is going on Undercover Boss, maybe don't shut down the plant he visits in between filming and air.

  [Washington Post / Emily Yahr]

• It's kind of incredible that "we should solve homelessness by just giving homeless people housing" is considered a new policy idea, but it's working in Salt Lake City.

  [Mother Jones / Scott Carrier]

• Another data point for the importance of cities: some researchers think low population density helped kill off the Neanderthals.

  [Boston Globe / Ruth Graham]

• Few cities boast better economic numbers than Minneapolis — and the Twin Cities' system of redistribution from rich suburbs and neighborhoods to poor ones may be to thank.

  [The Atlantic / Derek Thompson]

5. Verbatim

• "So we find Hamilton and his French comrade in arms, the Marquis de Lafayette (Daveed Diggs), triumphantly caroling, after a decisive battle against the British: 'Immigrants. We get the job done.'"

  [NYT / Ben Brantley]

• "When it comes to life writing, the real, honest, diaristic, warts-and-all kind, the only thing I have to show for myself—before St. Peter and whomever else—is my Yahoo! email account, opened circa 1996 and still going."

  [Rookie / Zadie Smith]

• "If these young, hot little girls on campus have a firearm, I wonder how many men will want to assault them."

  [Nevada State Assemblywoman Michele Fiore to NYT / Alan Schwarz]

• "There’s nothing like family to remind you of life’s essential loneliness."

  [New Yorker / Hilton Als]

• "It sold pretty well, even though the packaging was empty."

  [Now I Know / Dan Lewis]

• "The popular US donut chain Krispy Kreme was forced to apologize Tuesday after one of its branches in the UK advertised a new series of children's events called 'KKK Wednesdays.'"

  [TPM / Brendan James]

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