Libyan foreign minister Mohamed Abdelaziz announced earlier this week that with Western assistance, Libya had completed the destruction of its chemical weapons. The process to dismantle the Libyan chemical stockpile began in 2004 under the Ghaddafi regime as part of his campaign to normalize relations with the West. At that time, Libya had declared approximately […]
White House press secretary Jay Carney offered a sharp rebuttal of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s op-ed in The New York Times recently by saying, “unlike Russia, the United States stands up for democratic values and human rights around the world.” History paints a somewhat different story. In contrast to President Barack Obama’s contention that the […]
It is a shame that Vladimir Putin could not acquire the girth of predecessor Boris Yeltsin. Then it would make it even more appropriate that he is channeling the role of Senior Ferrari in the real life Syria-version of the film Casablanca. In Casablanca, robust Sydney Greenstreet deftly played Senior Ferrari. His character was the […]
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Discussions of possible intervention in Syria, like the run-up to the Iraq War, have focused on the nature of the available intelligence. The intelligence task in Syria is fundamentally different from the one in Iraq—and actually much easier—and getting the facts right is certainly worth the effort. Still, the emphasis on intelligence is unusual in […]
In family courts, judges do not tend to take the position of either parent in cases that involve the health and custody of children. Judges take the position of the child as if they were of mature age and speaking to their own personal benefit and well being. We need to be reminded that over […]
In the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq the American mainstream news media underwent a period of intense introspection (and by that I mean brief and superficial reflection) about how little critical reporting and analysis they offered in the run-up to the war. Is there a danger that the news media will once again […]
As tension mounts after Syria’s alleged—though clearly evident—use of chemical weapons to systematically slaughter civilians, outreach against the regime emerged most vocally from the White House and State Department, as well as their counterparts across Europe. Some voices — namely those from China and Russia — are, as expected, silent or deflecting criticism from the […]
As I watched Secretary of State John Kerry stand before the lectern last Monday afternoon and give an impassioned speech decrying the use of chemical weapons in Syria, I was briefly transported back in time to about two years ago. I was in the Vietnamese town of Gia Nghia in the province of Dak Nong, […]
The classic book The Guns of August is not exactly standard summertime beach reading material. It is, however, a book I like to turn to every once in a while to remind me of the role of folly in international affairs. In the book, author Barbara Tuchman studiously examines the role of misconception, misperception and […]
I’ve contended in previous posts (here, here and here) that President Obama’s failure to enforce his numerous threats against the use of chemical weapons by the Bashir al-Assad regime in Damascus is a significant reason to doubt the credibility of his repeated vows to use military force to stop Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. So is my argument undermined now […]
The major speech on counter-terrorism policy President Obama delivered last week at the National Defense University has generated a great deal of commentary about its implications for drone strikes and Guantanamo detainees. Little noticed, however, is the underlying message it sends to Iran’s leaders. Mr. Obama has made it a habit of talking tough to […]
A post last month argued that President Obama was fast approaching a defining moment for his foreign policy in view of the mounting evidence that the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria used sarin, a lethal nerve gas, in violation of Mr. Obama’s numerous warnings not to do so. The day of reckoning has now arrived […]
The rapidly escalating conflict in Syria is raising the collective volume of voices asking, “What can and should President Obama do in Syria?” The reality is that Syria’s future is inextricably tied to the future stability of the entire MENA region. Today, I turn to Cassie Chesley, Chair of the Coalition for a Democratic Syria […]
A defining moment for Mr. Obama’s foreign policy legacy is fast approaching From the Levant and the Persian Gulf to the Korean peninsula, events in recent weeks have offered a clinic in the difficulty of enforcing red lines on rogue regimes and their weapons of mass destruction, as well as how U.S. credibility suffers when […]