Patrick Lawrence: The US Seeing Itself & Others as They Are
Imagine the consequences for the empire’s managers were Americans to understand others and have some grasp of how they look upon the world. The other night, I watched a documentary called Coup 53, a brilliant treatment of the Anglo–American operation that…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Blinded to Syria
I do not know anyone who was not shocked by the lightning speed with which Damascus fell to expensively armed jihadist militias last weekend. I know very few people who do not understand that another domino has just fallen in the…
Is Egypt’s Al-Sisi Now Putting His Terror Crisis onto Airplanes?
We won’t know for some time just what caused EgyptAir Flight 804 to plunge abruptly into the Mediterranean shortly after midnight last Thursday. But weekend reports suggest that a detonated explosive device is one of two probable causes. If it…
We brought this on ourselves: After Paris, it is time to square our “values” with our history
The West’s behaved horrifically in Middle East for decades. We can’t be surprised by Paris. Let’s look in a mirror Another horrific attack emanates from the shattered, shredded Middle East into the beating hearts of Western civilization. It is impossible…
Obama Paid a High Price to Get Turkey to Fight ISIS
The war against the Islamic State just widened to include Turkey as a combatant. The Obama administration has long tried to persuade the Islamic government of RecipTayip Erdoğan to get into the fray, but the vital question still needs to be…
Europe’s Big Choice on How to Beat Militant Islam
We’re now “post-Paris” exactly as we were “post-9.11” 13 autumns ago. And Europeans face the same vital question Americans did then: Militant Islam manifests itself as a crisis in our societies. How will we weight civil liberties and security in…
After Charlie Hebdo, There’s One Good Way Forward
There is only one way to honor the victims of political or ideological violence properly. We give meaning to meaningless tragedy by turning it to positive purpose. This is the task in response to the horrors inflicted on Parisians last…
There is no terrorist threat: The feds want you to think there is, compliant media goes along
“Chatter” from “affiliates” causes a “crisis,” while media reports nonsense generated to justify NSA surveillance Summertime, and the chicanery is easy. The Obama administration’s latest rendering of our invisible but eternal “terrorist threat,” I mean. After a week of ghost…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: A German Journalist’s ‘Civil Death’
Hüseyin Dogru is the first E.U. citizen to be sanctioned by the union and the first journalist to land on the list because of his work. What is Dogru’s crime? Don’t ask: He has not committed one. The following note…