Why 2015 Will Make or Break a Spate of Global Alliances
U.S., Russia, Iran, China, Europe all face loyalty tests Call it the “Year of Tenuous Ties” as new alliances take shape Obama has to rethink his approach to both Russia and China Last January this column nominated 2014 as “the…
A U.S. Deal with Iran Could Reset the Balance of Mideast Power
Memo to Secretary of State Kerry: Mr. Secretary, When you arrived in Oman over the weekend to resume talks on Iran’s nuclear program, you must’ve known your pass-or-fail moment is on the line. The deadline for a deal is November…
Five Reasons to Listen to Hassan Rouhani
Why should the watching world, and especially we wary Americans, trust Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s charismatic new reformist, now that he has completed what the more suspicious among us call his “charm attack” at the United Nations? There are answers, even…
An Obama Failure with Iran Seems Inevitable
A year ago, under skies as sunny as we’ve had lately, Iran’s just-elected president, Hassan Rouhani, had his premiere at the United Nations and popped open the door to a settlement on his nation’s nuclear program and a cooperative relationship…
George W. Bush’s horrific, deadly blunder: Would Saddam Hussein be better than Iraq’s new hell?
Eleven years, and so much death, misery and destruction later, Iraq’s best outcome looks like the one Bush upended Foreign policy, at least the American kind, is like a stone thrown into a pond: The ripples outward go on and…
God won’t save us: Memorial Day, honest history and our new military-industrial complex
Americans believe we are guided by divine providence. Obama’s strange presidency shows the work of something else Memorial Day comes, always a curious occasion in a nation devoted to forgetting so much of its past. Count this column one among…
“A corrosive dereliction of duty”: Why the New York Times’ America-first journalism is so dangerous
Our foreign affairs columnist explains his problem with American exceptionalism, and with the New York Times Sanctions to the right of them, Sanctions to the left of them, Sanctions in front of them Volley’d and thunder’d; Into the valley of…
Misinformation, disinformation, lies: Can the New York Times’ foreign coverage be trusted at all?
The Times walks back a story about Syria and chemical weapons, a reminder of the media’s complicity with power The big doings do not stop in the Middle East. We now have a deal on Iran’s nuclear program that anyone…
Why Iran Is Now Obama’s Best Middle East Bet
“What are we supposed to do now?” pundits and policymakers ask these days. The full question being, “What now that the Middle East spins like a dervish and the Obama administration has lost its grip on every major issue in…
Washington hates real democracy: The reality is worse than anything Robert Gates suggests
It’s deeper than Gates’ new book: We’ve no control over events, but — dangerously — keep pretending we do The third anniversary of the Arab Spring is upon us. Three years ago next week Tunisians toppled the crooked regime of…
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