I was among a handful of reporters to meet with MK Danny Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to the U.S. this week at the foreign ministry’s offices in Jerusalem. In our interview, Ayalon made it clear that
If you want an illustration of successful multinational counterinsurgency and the potential for civilian life in Afghanistan, just look to Marja, says Rep. Bobby Schilling. “Last year, if you were to go there, what would happen is you would be
One of the leading experts on Saudi Arabia poured cold water on the idea of the Arab uprisings spreading to the Kingdom at a speech Thursday, and finished his presentation with a bizarre rant against the U.S.-Saudi relationship and the
Though this year marks the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, economic concerns–especially those pertaining to the deficit–continue to dominate the national political conversation. This point was hammered home at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference held over
In trying to predict what Egypt’s next leadership will look like, two unlikely names keep popping up: Nelson Mandela and the United Nations. Mandela, to illustrate what Egypt lacks; the UN, to demonstrate what there might just be too much
Pete King is getting a lot of flack for the direction his planned hearings on homegrown Muslim radicalization have taken. But one aspect of the hearings that should be getting more attention–and credit–than it is concerns the Muslim Brotherhood. It
What would happen, Ariel Sharon was asked in 2005, if Hamas took power in Gaza and started a new war? “Israel would react relentlessly,” was the answer. His autobiography is titled Warrior; he has been called Arik, King of the
After centuries of warfare in which secrecy and espionage often made the difference between winning and losing, we should be grateful that our current enemy has published–and then repeatedly called attention to–his battle plan. The only problem? Our senior leadership
One day in 2006, Gen. Ali-Reza Asgari was called to a personal meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The president was troubled by a dream he had, which convinced him there was a Western spy working among those involved in
In the Middle East, a former Bush administration official once told me, perception is reality. That is one reason why bad ideas have such staying power–it’s about a narrative, not results. But when those bad ideas finally die, it serves
There are three myths about terrorists that must be corrected if we are to battle terrorism effectively, according to Col. Matt Venhaus: that Muslim youth become terrorists for economic reasons; that they become terrorists primarily for religious reasons; and that
In the midst of WWII and the struggle against the Nazis, Winston Churchill made one of his most famous pronouncements: “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory; victory at all costs, victory in spite
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is best described as consistent without being predictable. The Republican ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, set to become its chair in January, was a thorn in George W. Bush’s side on Iran (she is more
The fallout from the administration’s two high-profile Asia trips has come starkly into focus: Where President Obama failed with South Korea, Russia succeeded; and Hillary Clinton’s choice of politician to support in Malaysia has strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood
A defiant Pervez Musharraf questioned whether Pakistan will be “abandoned” by the U.S. and insisted his country has made no strategic mistakes in its participation in the war on terror. The former Pakistani president, in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 10
Talk of the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state has continued so consistently that it now constitutes an ever-present low hum in the background of any discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian “peace process.” President Obama is reportedly agreeing to veto such
Sen. John McCain on Friday said that Islamist terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and Pakistan is the main obstacle to South Asian peace and the U.S.-India relationship, and that a precipitate withdrawal from Afghanistan would “deepen India’s reliance on Russia and
While President Obama was watching his party lose control of the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s midterm elections, let’s hope he was planning a response to another vote–this coming weekend’s elections in Burma. The Nov. 7 elections will be held
Britain’s leadership has mismanaged and misinterpreted multiculturalism, leading to a fracturing of British society and mutual distrust between the Muslim community and the rest of the country, the U.K.’s minister of state for security and counterterrorism said Oct. 28. “Multiculturalism
President Obama’s major foreign policy initiatives–the “reset” with Russia, outreach to the Islamic world, and the end of combat operations in Iraq–have accomplished one undeniable achievement: they have brought Russia, Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan closer to Iran. And just this
Its heritage may be anonymous graveyards and its bequest may have been the Second World War, but World War I was fought and won no less by American heroes who deserve a bolder remembrance than we have given them. And
When Russian census taker Anastasia Fedotova came to the door of President Dmitry Medvedev, the president noticed the scarf the census takers were given. “What else do they give you,” Medvedev asked. “A flashlight and a whistle,” Fedotova responded. “Why
Though moral relativism in the name of self-critiquing multiculturalism is often defended as a bulwark against Nazi-inspired atrocities, its elements are actually inherited from that which originally spawned Nazism. “Since Hitler was defeated in 1945,” the historian Sean McMeekin writes,
In the summer of 2000, analysts and pollsters believed the Palestinian people were ready for peace. Yet Yasser Arafat walked away from the negotiating table at Camp David and two months later the bloodshed of the Second Intifada began. Jonathan
Most people don’t think of the U.S. armed forces safeguarding shipping lanes and routes of commerce while they’re shopping at Target. But the Heritage Foundation’s Mackenzie Eaglen says full shelves at the store means the U.S. is securing air, land,
After a clash in the disputed East China Sea last month between China and Japan, China initiated a boycott of Japanese goods and held up exports of material needed by Japanese electronics manufacturers. Weeks later, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev planned
While visiting the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay in 2008, then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey stopped by the cell of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM). What he saw startled him: KSM had his own exercise center adjoining his cell,
In December, something unremarkable happened: the home of Bangladeshi pro-democracy dissident Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury was attacked. It was unremarkable because President Obama has removed the security and attendant American trial observers that his predecessor put in place to protect
As Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad (above) was being sentenced to life in prison, he told the judge defiantly: “We do not accept your democracy or your freedom because we already have shariah law and freedom.” This notion of already
It isn’t often these days that the West or its allies can, after a counterterrorism operation, make a statement like the following: “The symbol of terror in Colombia has been brought down.” Less often is it followed by the stirringly
When Nathan Brown began exploring the future of Islamist political parties in 2005, Hamas was about to make history. In a sharp break from the past, there was a sense at that time that if Arab states held open elections,
There are many ways to measure victory. By all accounts–battle readiness, casualties, the realization of objectives and/or the thwarting of the enemy’s goals–the Tet Offensive was a success for the U.S.-led allied troops and a crushing defeat for the North
While his influence on domestic politics is waning, President Obama’s latest foreign policy blunder–the dangerous new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia–may have opened the floodgates to similar capitulation to Moscow in Europe by putting America’s imprimatur on
Overshadowed by the announcement that Saudi Arabia will purchase a record-setting $60 billion in U.S. arms was news that the Saudis have given about $30 million (practically nothing compared to the defense outlay) so far this year to the Palestinian
One of the most famous words regarding the Obama presidency thus far is “reset”–the administration’s term for a fresh start with Russia’s governing tandem of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The strategy behind the “reset” has been
