Happy New Year – we should hope – because 2013 could prove a defining one on a host of interrelated challenges in the Greater Middle East, and elsewhere, that will have profound consequences for the United States and its allies for decades to come. The challenges include Iran and its nuclear program, Syria and its …
Continue reading “For The United States, A Treacherous New Year”
President Obama’s likely appointment of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary has focused attention on Hagel’s controversial views on Israel, its terror-sponsoring neighbors, and the appropriate U.S. posture towards the world’s most volatile and dangerous region. Fine. There’s lots to review and lots to criticize. But, as with all presidential appointments, the issue …
Continue reading “What appointing Chuck Hagel would say about Obama”
In its coverage of Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal’s fiery speech to celebrate the terrorist group’s 25th anniversary, in which he vowed to destroy Israel and replace it with a Palestinian state “from the sea to the river,” the New York Times offered a fascinating analysis of the unfortunate implications. “Mr. Meshal’s harsh words reflected …
Continue reading “The New York Times’ Creative Take On Hamas And Israel”
For decades, some of the Arab region’s leading figures have sent sharply different messages to the West than to their own people, hoping to secure the best of both worlds from their rhetorical duplicity. To U.S. and other Western leaders, they portrayed themselves as tolerant and peace-loving, interested in curbing violence and solving problems. To …
President Obama’s strong vocal support for Israel’s right to self-defense in the wake of its aerial bombardment of weapons sites in Gaza reflects an apparent, and welcome, evolution in Obama’s thinking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that contrasts sharply with his initial approach toward the Jewish State. To his credit, the President resisted the traditional temptation …
“I am with the Uprising of Women in the Arab World,” says a sign that Marwa (from Tunisia) holds in front of her, “because women’s sexuality is considered as a [sic] Taboo, while Sexism, Pedophilia, and Rape are seen as commonsense.” “I am with the uprising of women in the arab [sic] world,” says a …
Dear President Obama, With your re-election in hand, you’ll now have some of that second-term “flexibility” on foreign policy that you had discussed earlier this year with outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. You’ll be glad to have it. Because you will need Congress for major domestic initiatives, and because you’re already a lame duck, you’ll …