Greetings Responsible Statecraft Readers!

Wow, it has been an amazing year for our magazine. With an increased reporting team and a flood of new outside contributors working with us in 2025, we worked hard — and I believe very successfully — to provide informed, independent, and fresh news and analysis on the major geopolitical events of the last 12 months. 

As a result, our traffic increased to nearly 10 million page views in 2024!

Our ongoing coverage of the Ukraine War has been far ahead of the mainstream trends, which now seem to be moving closer toward an official consensus in favor of negotiations. Our writers, including Anatol Lieven, Mark Episkpos and George Beebe have been on the forefront of this from the beginning.

On the turmoil in the Middle East, we have stayed laser-focused on Israel’s War in Gaza, the humanitarian crisis, and the spread of conflict to the Red Sea, Lebanon and Syria. We remain particularly interested in the U.S. role there and the continued military presence in the region. Ex-CIA analyst Paul Pillar has been consistent in his critiques on this front, and Steven Simon has offered rich historic analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Meanwhile, veterans like (Ret.) Lt. Col. Daniel Davis have provided the view from a U.S. military perspective.

Thanks to a deep bench of writers, RS has also been able to keep eyes on U.S. foreign policy throughout the Global South and China. Our coverage of the corruption of the military industrial complex, thanks to writers like Stavroula Pabst (our newest full-time reporter!), Ben Freeman, Julia Gledhill, Bill Hartung, Eli Clifton, and Nick Cleveland-Stout is bar-none. 

And we are ready for the Trump transition! Already our ace foreign policy-political correspondents like Branko Marcetic are on the case, as the new administration navigates between its more hawkish and restraint impulses. As always, we are happy to have members of Congress, like Senator Rand Paul, dip in with op-eds to lend their insights throughout the year. 

Our aim is to keep a spotlight on the many issues in which Americans’ interests intersect with foreign policy and national security. Our articles challenge the hive-like mindset in Washington and the stultifying nature of group think in this important space. The common thread: a less militarized approach to international relations, one that is more focused on what is best for Americans, and for peace overall.

Are you seeing something that RS is not covering? Please reach out to us with your comments, concerns, pitches and tips at [email protected]

And please consider supporting us with an end of the year, tax deductible donation. We are a non-profit news organization which operates on the generosity of its contributors, like you!

All the best for a happy, healthy and peaceful holiday and Happy New Year!


Kelley Vlahos
Editorial Director
ResponsibleStatecraft.org