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
The more I think about Israel’s security situation at this moment, the better it looks… Continue reading
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
There are three possible outcomes to the Syrian civil war… Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has just completed a well-timed visit to Washington… Continue reading
The iron fist against “terrorist gangs” as promised by Bashar Assad got off to a fairly impressive start two weeks ago… Continue reading
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
What is most notable about Russian Middle East policy is that it tends to side with the extremist forces… Continue reading
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
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
Latest Comments
Hello Mike, Thank you for your positive feedback to the article. I felt there wasn’t too much critical analysis of ...
Thanks for this considered and well constructed article. A follow up article on the manner in which the editorial contro...
THE CLUELESSNESS OF CLAIMING THAT OBAMA'S MIDDLE EAST POLICIES WERE A FAILURE CANNOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH, WHAT THE...
As long as Obama is the president of the usa do not trust the us government......
Thank you for an good read....