Being an occupier is not good for anybody's global standing. It is a catalyst for terrorist recruitment.

There is a fair amount of competition, obviously, with ISIL and the terrorist networks around the world, China also posing a different kind of threat to the rules-based order.

Democracies are expense-averse and they think in terms of short-term, political interests rather than a long-term interest in stability.

Since 9/11, there has been a huge leap in people wanting to get personally involved in public service and international affairs.

As even a democracy like the United States has shown, waging war can benefit a leader in several ways: it can rally citizens around the flag, it can distract them from bleak economic times, and it can enrich a country's elites.

What is most needed in Darfur is an international peacekeeping and protection presence, and this is what the Sudanese government most wants to avoid.

American decision-makers must understand how damaging a foreign policy that privileges order and profit over justice really is in the long term.