The United States and China show growing signs of entering a long-term cold war, strikingly similar to the U.S.-Soviet cold war of decades past and demanding the same dogged determination that Washington displayed during that earlier conflict to protect its interests and defend its allies. Like the U.S.-Soviet conflict, the Sino-American one is rooted in …
“If they want Iran to return to its commitments,” Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, declared this week about the 2015 global nuclear agreement, “the United States must lift all sanctions in practice.” Hours later, President Biden told CBS News that he will not lift sanctions until Iran agrees to abide by the agreement’s restrictions on …
Continue reading “Iran nuclear program presents new challenges”
“See how futile and disastrous American democracy is,” Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general, told a TV audience in Lebanon the other day. “It lacks the necessary checks, and this is how people like Trump get to power… This exposes the truth about American democracy, which they have tried to spread all over the world.” From Beijing …
Continue reading “Biden should double down on democracy promotion”
Even the closest of bilateral relationships have their ups and downs, and that’s surely true of the vibrant ties that the United States has maintained with Israel since the latter was established more than 70 years ago. As President-elect Biden prepares to assume office, however, he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be wise …
Continue reading “Biden and Netanyahu can carefully nourish U.S.-Israeli ties”
The World Health Organization, the United Nations agency that has served as the planet’s premier global health organization since 1948, has undeniably kowtowed to China too much of late. In response to a Dec. 31 inquiry from Taiwan about people suffering from a strange, pneumonia-like illness in Wuhan, the WHO echoed China’s contention that the …
During the holy month of Ramadan, now underway, when TV viewership among Muslims traditionally skyrockets, Saudi Arabia’s MBC network is airing a series about Jewish families in a fictional Arab country in the late 1940s — a series that speaks volumes about what’s changing, and what isn’t, across the region. In the series “Umm Haroun,” …
Continue reading “Saudi TV series speaks volumes about regional dynamics”
With Israel’s new “unity” government now set, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a decision in the coming weeks with huge consequences for Israel’s relations with America and the wider world: whether to begin the process of annexing major parts of the West Bank. That’s because an Israeli decision to pursue annexation would strike at the …