Move would show U.S. is serious about preventing a nuclear-armed Iran

The United States faces a cold reality: even stepped-up U.S. and Western sanctions of recent weeks have not persuaded Iran’s radical regime, which is driving ever closer to nuclear weaponry, to shift course. That’s largely because Washington has never mounted a credible threat of military action to derail Tehran’s efforts. While President Barack Obama and …

The stakes are far too high for America to sit on the sidelines

The Arab Spring has brought hope to millions across the Middle East and North Africa, but whether its ultimate outcome is a more democratic region or just a new set of autocrats to replace the old remains a very open question. For the United States, the stakes could hardly be higher. A more democratic region …

Burying our heads in the sand will encourage new attacks

An Army psychiatrist at Fort Hood, Texas, allegedly kills 13 of his service mates. A Pakistani immigrant tries to set off a car bomb in Times Square. An American convert to Islam murders a military recruiter in Arkansas. Each reportedly subscribed to a radical strain of Islam that, they believed, directed them to defend their …

Hezbollah’s seizure of power in Lebanon dooms peace talks and puts Israel at risk

Prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority have not been rising. The central issues of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements and Palestinian refugees seem no closer to resolution, and turmoil in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and elsewhere in the region further complicates efforts to reach long-term solutions to vexing challenges. Now, Hezbollah’s de facto takeover of …

U.S. recognition of Palestine would heighten tensions, spur violence

U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state is one of those tempting silver bullets that upon close examination would produce the opposite of its promised result. Rather than promoting peace, it would likely ignite conflict both within Palestinian society and between Israel and the Palestinians. Never mind that such recognition would undermine the very process of …

Iran’s expanding alliance with Latin America must be nipped

Henry Kissinger famously asked whether Iran sees itself as a “nation” with a role in the international system or a “cause” that seeks to overturn the system through a global populist revolution. Iran’s activities not just in its own backyard but also south of our border – specifically, in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua – …