Two-State Delusions in the Middle East

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast,” Alexander Pope wrote in 1733, as if presaging the seemingly endless search for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. On this issue, hope springs to life especially with the change of political seasons in Washington, Jerusalem and other key capitals. New leaders assume office, promising to apply new energy …

America’s Human Rights Challenges Extend Beyond Iran

Tehran’s brutal crackdown on democracy-hungry protestors may have defeated the most serious threat to the Iranian regime since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, but the Obama Administration will continue to face the questions of how to respond to such uprisings and when to promote democracy around the world. These questions offer no easy answers. Cultures …

Iran’s Turmoil May Prove Convenient for Obama

At first blush, the gripping images of popular uprising and deadly crackdown in Iran have severely complicated President Obama’s approach to that nation, jeopardizing his plans for deliberative “engagement” with Iran’s leaders to convince them to abandon their quest for nuclear weaponry. How, after all, can the United States seek dialogue with a regime that …

Needed: A New Imperative to Cut the Deficit

The recent rise in interest rates may mark the first sign that the chickens of Washington’s fiscal recklessness are coming home to roost, as investors worry that huge budget deficits in the coming years will threaten not just recovery from today’s recession but longer-term economic growth as well Top federal policymakers are responding. Federal Reserve …

Three Ways Obama Must Choose Wisely in Cairo

President Obama’s decision to speak in Cairo this week is symbolically appropriate because, for better and for worse, that city highlights the multiple conflicts across the Middle East on which he must take sides. What he says publicly and how he maneuvers privately in Cairo, and during his earlier stop in Riyadh, will either cement …

On Taxes and Spending, Democrats Must Not Ignore Public Skepticism

The American people are about to confront their contradictions – their demand for more specific services but less “government” in general, for lower deficits but not for higher taxes or less of the spending that dominates government. Also heading for a confrontation are Americans and their leaders in Washington, the latter of whom are preparing …

Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi: Diplomacy, Human Rights – And a Brave Woman

She sits mostly alone, a woman of fragile health but breathtaking courage – a solitary figure who represents the aspirations of 47 million fellow citizens of Burma and of millions living in oppression elsewhere. She is Aung San Suu Kyi, who is to Burma what Nelson Mandela was to South Africa and Natan Sharansky was …