Trump’s Fly-by-Night Mideast ‘Policy’ Embraces the Saudi’s New Crown Prince
It’s not likely that President Trump knew what he was getting into when he embraced the Saudis as the rightful leaders of the Islamic world and the war on terror during his visit to Riyadh last month. But there were…
Of Four Options Facing Trump in Qatar, Only One Is the Right Choice
Three weeks after President Trump’s closely watched meeting with Arab leaders during his visit to Saudi Arabia, the No.1 question for Trump’s foreign policy team is how to navigate in a region that appears to be moving headlong toward open conflict. So…
Trump the Diplomat? Will He Charm or Harm US Relations?
Whoever put together President Trump’s first foreign tour has a good grasp of the grand gesture. When he departs Friday, his main stops are Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican, making Trump the first U.S. leader to visit the seats…
Obama Has Just Turned Yemen into Another Middle East Quagmire
When a U.S. vessel off the coast of Yemen fired on Houthi rebels Thursday, it sent another of the Obama administration’s delicate balancing acts in the Middle East off the rails. Is the president who says he’s dedicated to getting…
“The scope of our failure”: The real story of our decades-long foreign policy disaster that set the Middle East on fire
The brilliant Andrew Bacevich tells Salon why our massive march to folly in Middle East has to be seen as one war I first interviewed Andrew Bacevich, the soldier turned scholar, after he spoke at the Hope Club, an old-line…
The Mideast Mess Obama Will Leave Behind
What a dismal week in the Middle East for the Obama administration. In the course of a couple of days, the partial ceasefire in Syria began to fray, the peace talks in Geneva turned stony, and the Saudis pointedly cold-shouldered…
A New World War? Russia and the US Look for a Way to Cool Down Syria
Two things emerged from the Munich security conference last week, which seem to make little sense when considered side by side. One, the major powers agreed to a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria. Skeptics think this will amount to little…
He’s made the Middle East worse: Let’s be honest, Obama bears as much responsibility for this mess as predecessors who shaped them
Decades of poorly concocted policies with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and others haunt us — and worsen every day It is all there now for us to see. Decades of cynical, poorly devised policy in the Middle East, vacant of…
From Mideast to Moscow, These 3 Crises Could Wreck Obama’s Foreign Policy
What a start for the Obama administration’s final year. In the course of a few days,Russia declares the U.S. a threat to its security taking relations to a perilous new low, and Iran announces it will escalate a new missile…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The Assassins & Iran
Any thought of Biden and his people riding into town on white horses to save the nuclear deal is strictly naïve. I was on the telephone with a friend in Tehran Sunday and found myself telling him about a Christmas card…