Foreign Policy
Iran Diplomacy Affirmed
I agree with The New Republic’s John Judis that the boldest part of President Obama’s SOTU address was his firm pledge to veto any bill to increase sanctions on Iran while negotiations are in progress. I couldn’t help but notice ...
Read MoreThe Congressional Threat to Obama’s Iran Diplomacy
Unprecedented: two posts from me in one day! But this one is really important. A détente with Iran would be one of the Obama administration’s major foreign policy achievements—reducing the danger of war in the Middle East and opening up ...
Read MoreThe Middle East Conundrum and the ASA Boycott of Israel
John Kerry has been valiantly working to bring about negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians aimed at a final settlement of their dispute over the land of Palestine. I’m not a mind reader; I don’t know if Kerry truly believes he ...
Read MoreThe Deal with Iran
The Obama administration’s accord with Iran is an important accomplishment. Iran will freeze its enrichment of uranium and convert its stockpile of 20% enriched uranium into a form that is not susceptible to further enrichment. The significance of the pact ...
Read MoreDrone Strikes and Morality
A Yemeni civil engineer recently recounted to US Congressmen how he witnessed a drone strike that took the lives of his brother-in-law and nephew. His brother-in law was a cleric who had spoken out against Al Qaeda and was unfortunate ...
Read MoreA couple of notes on our political lexicon: “national security” and “entitlements”
The reprieve that ended the government shutdown and forestalled default mandated that Congress come to agreement on a federal budget plan. As Democrats and Republicans grope toward an elusive Grand compromise, two categories of spending are certain to come under ...
Read MoreSyria and American Credibility
In my last post on Syria I suggested that a case for US intervention might be based on the idea that US inaction would impair US credibility, hampering this country’s ability to defend US interests in the Middle East and ...
Read MoreSyria and that Faded Red Line
Hopefully, diplomacy will give President Obama an opportunity to back off further from that limb he went out on. In any case he may still ask Congress for some kind of contingent authority to launch air strikes against Syria. Circumstances ...
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