Staff Writer

Benjamin Parker

32 articles 2015–2017

Benjamin Parker is a journalist who contributed to The Weekly Standard from 2015 to 2017, covering a wide range of domestic and international policy topics. His reporting spanned U.S. housing and financial regulation, congressional politics, and foreign affairs including Russia, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. He wrote frequently on European geopolitics and American electoral developments.

Orrin Hatch: Cunning Linguist

August 7, 2017 · Today's Blogs, Health Care Reform, Magazine

Utah Senator Orrin Hatch found himself embroiled in controversy Monday, but unlike most Washington squabbles, this one was solved with a dictionary.

Special Counsel Mueller Impanels Grand Jury

August 3, 2017 · Robert Mueller, Donald Trump, Today's Blogs

Big news about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in last year’s election, from the Wall Street Journal:

State Department Letter to the Senate Defends Involvement in Syria

August 3, 2017 · Military, Syria, Today's Blogs

The State Department outlined the administration’s legal justification for engaging the Syrian military in a letter to Sen. Bob Corker Wednesday. Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had written to the department in June to ask if the military had been properly authorized to…

Tillerson Leaves Anti-Propaganda Funding on the Table

August 2, 2017 · Russia, Today's Blogs, State Department

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has turned down nearly $80 million of funding to combat propaganda and information operations from ISIS, Russia, and China, Politico reports.

North Korea's Missile Launch Was Ambitious. The U.S. Response Has Matched It.

August 1, 2017 · nuclear weapons, Today's Blogs, North Korea

Last week, North Korea launched its most ambitious missile test to date. And the response from the United States has been unambiguous. The Kim regime on Friday launched a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile that experts say could reach the United States. American forces countered with a…

Europe Split on New Russia Sanctions

July 26, 2017 · Russia, Today's Blogs, Magazine

The U.S.’s European allies are split on how to respond to new American sanctions on Russia. Some of the sanctions the House passed on Tuesday are targeted against companies or individuals that cooperate with Russian energy companies. According to the bill, “The Government of the Russian Federation…

The Other Russia: Poisonings, 'Accidents,' and Assassinations

July 24, 2017 · Russia, Vladimir Putin, Today's Blogs

Vladimir Kara-Murza was late to our interview because he was at the hospital, receiving treatment for being poisoned. Again. He’s not a spy, he’s not KGB—he’s just a journalist and political activist, and not really all that threatening. But twice in the past two years, Kara-Murza has experienced…

Russia's War of Inches

July 19, 2017 · Vladimir Putin, Today's Blogs, Conservative Newsstand

The Russian government would rather ask for forgiveness than permission. Its foreign policy for years has depended on establishing “facts on the ground.” Once the Kremlin’s forces or its allies take what they want, the Foreign Ministry is happy to commit to accords that cement their aggression in…

Ticked Off

July 18, 2017 · magazine_repost, Health, Features

In December 2016, President Obama signed into law the 21st Century Cures Act, which contained a laundry list of regulatory reforms and new funding. One of the most controversial sections wasn’t about cancer, Alzheimer’s, AIDS, or drug prices. It was about Lyme disease.

Ticked Off

July 14, 2017 · Health, Features, deer

In December 2016, President Obama signed into law the 21st Century Cures Act, which contained a laundry list of regulatory reforms and new funding. One of the most controversial sections wasn’t about cancer, Alzheimer’s, AIDS, or drug prices. It was about Lyme disease.

Weaponized Gas

June 29, 2017 · Russia, Energy, Today's Blogs

There are two great weapons Vladimir Putin uses to leverage the West and push his foreign policy. One is nuclear weapons, and the other is natural gas. Thanks to the American energy revolution, Russia’s control of the European energy market is slipping, and may wind up gone altogether.

The A-10 Warthog Lives

June 28, 2017 · Today's Blogs, Air Force, Magazine

On Monday, the House Armed Services Committee released a draft of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. It included $103 million to keep the second-most controversial plane in the Air Force’s fleet, the A-10, flying.

Senate Bill Sets Up Clash Over Cost-Sharing Reductions

June 22, 2017 · Risk Corridors, Obamacare, Today's Blogs

The draft health care bill released by Senate Republicans on Thursday contains a number of differences with the House bill. One provision, a holdover from Obamacare, prompted a lawsuit from the House of Representatives in 2014.

Early Polling in Virginia Has Good News for Gillespie

June 19, 2017 · Virginia, Ed Gillespie, Today's Blogs

After Corey Stewart narrowly lost the Republican nomination for governor of Virginia to Ed Gillespie, he declared, “There’s one word you won’t hear from me, and that’s ‘unity.’” Apparently his supporters don’t agree.

Fact Check: Is Newt Gingrich Right to Say a President 'Cannot' Obstruct Justice?

June 16, 2017 · James Comey, Russia, Donald Trump

Newt Gingrich defended President Trump against allegations that Trump's firing of James Comey was a crime. Gingrich's legal interpretation: "the president cannot obstruct justice." I'm not a lawyer, but neither is Newt Gingrich (he holds a Ph.D. in European history), and if I can google some legal…

The Acid Test of Dissent in Russia

June 16, 2017 · magazine_repost, Russia, Table of Contents

Huge demonstrations once again swept through Russia on June 12, as thousands took to the streets in over 160 cities to protest the corruption and authoritarianism of Vladimir Putin's regime. This followed street protests by Russia's emerging opposition in February and March that were the biggest in…

The Acid Test of Dissent in Russia

June 16, 2017 · Russia, Table of Contents, alexei navalny

Huge demonstrations once again swept through Russia on June 12, as thousands took to the streets in over 160 cities to protest the corruption and authoritarianism of Vladimir Putin's regime. This followed street protests by Russia's emerging opposition in February and March that were the biggest in…

Don't Look Now, but Congress Is Getting Stuff Done

June 15, 2017 · Bipartisanship, Republican Party, Today's Blogs

In the wake of Wednesday's shooting at a practice for the congressional baseball game, politicians and pundits—appropriately—have made much ado about renewing bipartisanship and mutual respect in politics. Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi made statements of unity that were roundly praised; Bernie Sanders…

Dodd-Frank Reform in the House Helps the GOP in the Senate

June 9, 2017 · Mike Crapo, Regulatory Reform, Paul Ryan

While everyone was watching James Comey's testimony on Thursday, House Republicans gave their colleagues in the Senate a major bargaining chip in their ongoing negotiations for financial reform.

The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway

June 7, 2017 · Japan, Today's Blogs, Battle of the Bulge

The architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, once warned his superiors, "In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of…

He's No JFK

August 7, 2015 · JFK, North Korea, Blog

President Obama defended the Iran deal at American University in Washington this week, inviting comparisons to President Kennedy’s address there in 1963. While some consider the allusion a masterstroke of political theater, the JFK comparison might not suit the president as well as he thinks.

Afghan Government Negotiating With the Taliban

July 7, 2015 · Afghanistan, Pakistan, Blog

For the first time since an American-led coalition toppled the Taliban in 2001, Afghan officials are engaged in formal talks with Taliban leadership. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani confirmed that members of the Afghan High Peace Council sat down for face-to-face negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan…

A Failed Affordable Housing Program in Washington, D.C.

June 22, 2015 · Washington D.C., Blog, Benjamin Parker

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Juliàn Castro defended his department’s new "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing" program on Capitol Hill last week. Designed to integrate low-income families into higher-income neighborhoods, the proposed rules would funnel federal grant money to…

Another Putin Critic Poisoned?

June 4, 2015 · Russia, Blog, Benjamin Parker

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, collapsed in Moscow on Tuesday. A friend of Boris Nemtsov, the Russian dissident murdered in February, the 33-year-old showed no previous signs of illness.