Why Kerry’s Iran Deal Will Hold Up
Secretary of State Kerry pulled off a hat trick in Sunday’s pre-dawn hours, when six world powers and Iran announced an interim deal in Geneva on the latter’s nuclear program. Kerry was all over the Sunday morning talk shows, soft-pedaling…
How Secret How Secret Global Trade Talks Can Destroy the InternetGlobal Trade Talks Can Destroy the Internet
Talks on the two biggest trade agreements in history are reaching critical stages, and none of us knows anything about them. Like it or not, this is ignorance by design: Months of negotiations across both oceans have proceeded in secret,…
Why a Deal with Iran on Nukes Remains Elusive
It was a wild ride last week in Geneva, where the foreign ministers of six world powers assembled with Iranian negotiators for a second round of talks on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program. A deal could come, a deal is…
The Dark Cloud over Europe’s Nascent Recovery
Europe seems to be right on time—for once. The comforting consensus a year ago was that the crisis gripping the European Union since 2009 would begin to fade in the third quarter of this year. And here we are: •…
Saudis in a Snit over Obama’s Mideast Policies
What is happening between Saudi Arabia and the U.S.—the very fastest of friends since American geologists first caught the whiff of petroleum in the early 1930s? And how much should anyone worry about a rift between Washington and Riyadh? The…
Are Things Actually Looking Up in the Middle East?
It is only a faint outline—call it a pencil sketch—but the lines of a significantly remade Middle East are suddenly falling into place. We have to wait for the region’s leaders and the diplomats asserting the influence of interested outsiders…
Here Comes Obama’s Big Moment with Iran
It is still a thrill an hour in Washington. Do we have a government? Do we pay our bills? Two days of talks in Geneva this week will prove just as big. They begin Tuesday, the topic is Iran, and…
Washington’s Mess Damages U.S. Global Standing
Nobody will ever put up a neon sign or a billboard announcing that the U.S. has taken another step toward decline in its global position. Neither is American decline inevitable, as the so-called “declinists” habitually assert. It is not. Decline…
How Iran and Israel Put Obama in the Hot Seat
We begin a big, consequential week in world politics. This year’s UN General Assembly will put President Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, in the same room, addressing the same heads of state, walking the…
Why Syria Is Obama’s Foreign Policy Proving Ground
It is getting hard to count all the surprises arising from the Syrian crisis. And there are more coming. Outcomes unthinkable even a week ago can now be responsibly imagined—and pursued. Atop this columnist’s wish list: (1) Relations between Washington…
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