STEVE PIECZENIK TALKS: The September of 2012 Through The September of 2014

The international system is in flux: Europe is declining as Asia is rising; a post–Arab Spring Middle East continues to smolder; and “soft” power has been substituted for its “hard” variant across numerous other locales. With the rise in debates over America’s decline, questions abound about her role in the world, where should we look for answers?

An eBook compilation of a blog by an ex–Deputy Assistant Secretary of State would be as good a place as any—or so you would think. Yet serious readers are best to look beyond Steve Pieczenik Talks: The September of 2012 through the September of 2014. I say this less so because Pieczenik believes President Obama “lied” about killing Osama bin Laden, however, and more because the author’s writing is seriously wanting.

Describing Putin as a “humanitarian” will sit uneasy with readers who deem Russia’s actions in Ukraine illegitimate, to be sure, but this is sandwiched between legitimate, easy-to-read concerns surrounding, say, the (il)legality of drones and the regime in Riyadh. Despite the author’s efforts “to write more…punched-up,” though, Pieczenik’s amateurish punches fail to land the knockout blows a professional blogger such as Foreign Policy magazine’s Thomas Ricks provides.