‘Getting Out in Front’ on Egypt?
The administration’s handling of the Egypt crisis — as typified by the bizarre set of mixed messages sent by Secretary of State Clinton yesterday as she wandered without point from Sunday morning show...
View ArticleThe Slap Heard Round the World
It is amazing that the political revolution now sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa was started by a 26-year-old unemployed Tunisian man who self-immolated. On December 17, 2010, Mohamed...
View ArticleWolfowitz on the Convulsions in Egypt
In an interview with the Spectator (UK), Ambassador Paul Wolfowitz makes some insightful observations as they relate to the revolution now unfolding in parts of the Middle East and North Africa....
View ArticleRealpolitik vs. the Long-Term Good
One of the ironies of the present crisis in Egypt is that it is exposing once again the ridiculousness of one of the nasty slurs flung against neocons by the likes of John Mearsheimer and Steven Walt...
View ArticleAbout Those ‘Likudniks’
The theory that a powerful cabal of Jewish intellectuals pressured President Bush into launching wars on behalf of Israel is one that’s become associated with the anti-Semitic political fringe. But it...
View ArticleCould an Unstable Egypt Bring Israel and the U.S. Closer?
At Politico, Walter Russell Mead analyzes what the possible outcome in Egypt could mean for the U.S.-Israel relationship. He writes that if an extremist government ends up replacing President Hosni...
View ArticleDemocrats Criticize Rand Paul’s Call to Cut Aid to Israel
JTA is reporting that seven Democratic senators sent a letter to top GOP senators yesterday, calling on the Republicans to repudiate Sen. Rand Paul’s comments about cutting foreign aid to Israel: “At a...
View ArticleCurious Quote of the Day
From a Bloomberg News article on turmoil in the Middle East: In Egypt, where Mubarak, 82, has been a dependable U.S. ally for 30 years, the White House will need “a delicate touch” to “ensure that a...
View ArticleSoros Cites Israel as Main Obstacle to Democracy in Egypt
In a Washington Post column today, George Soros seems quite optimistic about democracy taking root in Egypt — that is, as long as the Egyptians are able to overcome the Israel obstacle: The main...
View ArticleAmnesty International Campaigns for Convicted Hezbollah Spy
Amnesty International has come under heavy criticism for supporting Ameer Makhoul, a former anti-Israel activist convicted by Israel of spying for Hezbollah. Makhoul received a nine-year prison...
View ArticleRE: Egypt Needs Liberalism
There’s not much more to say in a general sense about Michael Totten’s badly needed reality check differentiating liberal democracies — roughly, those that have robust democratic institutions that...
View ArticleHamas and History
In “Hamas, the Brotherhood and Egypt,” the Wall Street Journal makes a point similar to one I tried to make in my prior post: that the 2006 Palestinian election, won by Hamas, is a cautionary tale for...
View ArticleSharansky: Reagan Right, Critics Wrong
Ronald Reagan, who would have been 100 this Sunday, had an instinctive affinity for Jews and Israel. As an actor who spent decades in the heavily Jewish environment of Hollywood and who counted scores...
View ArticleMore on the Freedom Agenda
I want to add several thought to John’s illuminating post on neoconservatism and democracy. 1. The most radical Islamic governments in the world — Iran, Afghanistan under the Taliban, Iraq under...
View ArticleRand Paul Repeats Calls to End Aid to Israel
Sen. Rand Paul has doubled down on his call to cut foreign aid to Israel, despite the complete lack of political support for the proposal on the Hill: I’m not singling out Israel. I support Israel. I...
View ArticleWhat Jerry Brown Does Not Propose to Cut, Realign, or Reform
It was easy to miss California Governor Jerry Brown’s State of the State address on Monday this week. Besides competing with events in the Middle East, his speech had the disadvantage of being little...
View ArticleObama Ceding Middle East and South Asia to China
In his influential NightWatch security newsletter, analyst John McCreary notes the impetus behind the new Chinese/UAE strategic partnership announced yesterday: China has maintained a strategic...
View ArticleWe Still Need to Protect Oil Interests
The Wall Street Journal has the umpteenth article today trumpeting the technological advances–primarily fracking–that are allowing oil companies to uncover and exploit vast, untapped fields in North...
View ArticleDoes the Mideast Want an Isolationist U.S.?
Anglo-Indian writer Pankaj Mishra, the darling of the moment among the anti-Western intellectual set, has a New York Times op-ed today which seems to translate his wishful thinking–he desires America...
View ArticleAmerican Military Retrenchment and Nuclear Proliferation
The New York Times had a fascinating article on the latest Korean crisis the other day which noted that two-thirds of South Koreans now support developing their own nuclear deterrent–a radical idea for...
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