On Ukraine, Biden needs to step up and make the case before it’s too late

As Europe’s fascists flexed their muscles in 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt cautioned: “Let no one imagine that America will escape; that America may expect mercy; that this Western Hemisphere will not be attacked; and that it will continue tranquilly and peacefully to carry on the ethics and the arts of civilization… There is a solidarity and …

Joe Biden keeps snubbing Netanyahu – here’s why

President Joe Biden’s state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist who is cracking down on opposition leaders, journalists and minorities, points up the compromises presidents make as they balance America’s security needs with its desire to promote freedom and democracy around the world. Biden seeks closer U.S. ties with India, which recently became the …

Israel needs to refocus abroad

“Never interfere with an enemy in the process of destroying himself,” Napoleon once said. That’s a lesson Jerusalem needs to learn quickly, and Washington needs to reinforce, as Israel’s regional challenges escalate while the Jewish state is splintering over an ill-timed debate on judicial reform. Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has paused his push for a judicial overhaul that critics …

Ukraine remains at heart of freedom’s future

“The global struggle for democracy approached a possible turning point in 2022,” Freedom House writes in its latest annual report on political rights and civil liberties around the world. “There were signs … that the world’s long freedom recession may be bottoming out, which would set the stage for a future recovery.” Freedom shrunk for the 17th straight …

Iran looks for signals of US resolve

“The Fuhrer beams,” Joseph Goebbels said of Hitler after Germany reoccupied the Rhineland in the spring of 1936 and the West did nothing. “England remains passive. France won’t act alone. Italy is disappointed and America uninterested.” As it turns out, Robert Kagan explains in “The Ghost at the Feast,” his new book about America’s global role between 1900 and …

High Time for the US to support Ukraine’s victory – and Russia’s defeat

President Biden’s surprise trip to Kyiv was gutsy, and he deserves credit for leading the West in an impressive military, diplomatic, and economic effort to isolate Moscow and help Ukraine rebuff Russia’s attempted conquest. One year into the war, however, Biden’s administration must discard its strategic ambiguity about U.S. war aims and make clear that, like Kyiv, …

New Israeli government could transform U.S.-Israeli relationship

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government — and its suspected efforts to fundamentally transform the nature of Israel’s democratic system — could significantly weaken the U.S.-Israel relationship over time. That relationship, dating back to Israel’s founding during the Truman years, is rooted in shared values and shared interests. Israel remains the Middle East’s lone democracy, and the United …