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Who’s Really Isolated? He Who Misunderstands Middle East Realities

One of the mantras from Israel’s supposed foreign well-wishers is that the country is now “isolated.” Sure, on the surface this makes sense… Continue reading

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Israel is in Good Shape Because So Many Others Decided Not to Be

The more I think about Israel’s security situation at this moment, the better it looks… Continue reading

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Turkey and Syria: An Undeclared State of War

After Syria’s downing of a Turkish aircraft over the eastern Mediterranean, the question is not so much why Syria shot it down as why the two neighbors have become embroiled in a confrontation in the first place… Continue reading

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Muhammad Mursi Will Use Street Power for Egyptian Presidency

The goal from the outset of the Tahrir Square revolution early last year was to get the Muslim Brotherhood installed in government through the ballot box… Continue reading

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Clearest and Briefest Possible Summary of the Situation in Syria

There are three possible outcomes to the Syrian civil war… Continue reading

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Syria is the Spanish Civil War of our Time

Spain 1936. An army revolt against the democratically elected government sets off a civil war. Syria 2012. The people revolt against the dictatorship setting off a civil war… Continue reading

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How Can Obama’s Middle East Policy Possibly Get Worse? Answer: Look at Syria

Some of my readers are unhappy that I keep criticizing President Barack Obama and his government. The problem is that this administration keeps doing terrible things in the Middle East… Continue reading

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The Al Houla atrocity: The outcome of nuclear diplomacy with Iran

Bashar Assad and his army chiefs can safely carry on with their “unspeakable crimes” for the next six months under the Iranian-Russian umbrella… Continue reading

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Two Obama Administration Scandals on Syria?

When a delegation of Syrian Kurdish rebels recently visited Washington DC, the State Department met them to ask for a favor. What was it?… Continue reading

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The Obama Government Backs the Atrocity-Producing Forces So How Will it Stop Atrocities?

How can one write satire when the Obama Administration has created an Atrocities Prevention Board to prevent mass murder and genocide at the same time as it has been largely supporting the forces most likely to commit mass murder and genocide… Continue reading

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An Islamist Nazi Collaborator is Transformed into a Moderate

Suppose you read in the Washington Post about a democratic politician who was a refugee from persecution by a dictatorship. Would you be surprised to learn that he was in fact a vicious antisemite… Continue reading

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The Iraqi Model: As Good As It Gets

Iraq is in a mess. Violence continues. Factionalism leads to endless bickering. Corruption is at high levels. Christians live in fear or flee altogether. Islamism is constantly creeping forward… Continue reading

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The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria

The Muslim Brotherhood was established in Syria in 1945 by disciples of Hassan al-Banna. At first it focused on educational and societal activities… Continue reading

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The Syrian Uprising: Turkish-Syrian Relations Go Downhill

As Syria sinks deeper and deeper into the throes of civil war, the decade-long honeymoon between Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party and Bashar al-Assad’s regime has all but ended… Continue reading

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Does the West Have to Be So Weak on Syria … and Everywhere Else?

America has started to leave our region and there will be no ally left to you… Continue reading

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The Syrian Uprising: Syria’s Struggling Civil Society

Authoritarian regimes have traditionally been disinclined to accept any political or social opposition and have been hostile to the development of an independent civil society that could form a counterweight to state power… Continue reading

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The Syrian Uprising: The Muslim Brotherhood Reborn

As Syrian president Bashar al-Assad struggles to contend with a massive popular uprising, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood is poised to dominate whatever coalition of forces manages to unseat the Baathist regime… Continue reading

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Obama Hearts Turkish Leader Erdogan As He Oppresses His Own People and Stabs America in the Back

President Barack Obama is continuing his love affair with Turkish Islamist leader Recep Erdogan… Continue reading

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The Obama Administration’s Pro-Islamist Syrian Opposition “Leadership” is Collapsing

Five months ago, I wrote how the U.S. government collaborated in creating an anti-American, Islamist-dominated leadership for the Syrian revolution. This leadership group failed immediately. Now it is collapsing openly… Continue reading

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Ankara and Washington Ponder Next Moves in Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has just completed a well-timed visit to Washington… Continue reading

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Bashar’s ‘Iron Fist’

The iron fist against “terrorist gangs” as promised by Bashar Assad got off to a fairly impressive start two weeks ago… Continue reading

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Demography is Destiny in Syria

Among the second wave of Arab Spring uprisings that followed Tunisia, Syria was the most spectacular “out of the blue” that suddenly arose in the face of the media and analytic community… Continue reading

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What is Russia Doing in the Middle East?

What is most notable about Russian Middle East policy is that it tends to side with the extremist forces… Continue reading

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The Pragmatics of Lebanon’s Politics

Lebanese society has had a remarkable ability to overcome deep-rooted sectarian and religious divides that could readily have imploded less problematic countries… Continue reading

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What to Do About Syria

There is a strong case that can be made for doing nothing about the Syrian civil war, but a stronger case can be made for doing something… Continue reading