One of the many anomalies of Pres. Barack Hussein Obama’s collapsing foreign policy is Washington’s growing rift with Israel, despite the two countries’ historically intimate ties at every level. Obama’s fundamental antagonism toward Israel was … [Read more...] about Putting the squeeze on Israel
Gulf
ISIS Global Advances (March 26 – April 1, 2015)*
Left: ISIS in Yarmouk, the Palestinian refugee camp south of Damscus While the United States and its allies claim their air campaigns are successfully eroding the Islamic State expansion, ISIS took over the Yarmouk refugee camp, home to 18,000 … [Read more...] about ISIS Global Advances (March 26 – April 1, 2015)*
Libya 2011: The Decisive Year
Left: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton learned about the death of Muammar Gaddafi via an SMS message. Clinton was staying in Kabul when she learned the news. The moment, when she was given a cell phone, was filmed by CBS NEWS as Clinton was … [Read more...] about Libya 2011: The Decisive Year
Iran as a Nuclear Threshold State: Implications for Israel and the Middle East
While an arrangement that leaves Iran as a nuclear threshold state may be the lesser of all evils for the United States, it can be expected to be very bad for Israel. A signed agreement of this sort will widen the existing disputes between the … [Read more...] about Iran as a Nuclear Threshold State: Implications for Israel and the Middle East
Plunging Oil Prices: The Challenge for the Gulf Oil Economies
Left: A photo released by the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) on December 24, 2014, shows KNPC's new LPG TRAIN-4 project, which processes 800 million cubic feet of natural gas, 40 kilometres south of Kuwait City Despite progress in several … [Read more...] about Plunging Oil Prices: The Challenge for the Gulf Oil Economies
The Egyptian Bet
Any hope for an exit from the current Middle East chaos lies with the efforts of Gen. Pres. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to stabilize its politics and rebuild the Egyptian economy. With its 90 million people and traditional role as the intellectual leader … [Read more...] about The Egyptian Bet
The Invisible Hand Behind The Coup in Yemen*
Left: Sa'dah, Yemen Credit: Bernard Gagnon Over the last three years, media pundits accurately described Yemen as perched on the brink of chaos. No more. Now it has fallen off the cliff. The key question is how this happened. The short answer is … [Read more...] about The Invisible Hand Behind The Coup in Yemen*
Dumping Riyadh For Tehran
Left: Zacarias Moussaoui The Oscar worth direction of Iran’s image-laundering campaign is drowning, as hoped by the Obama administration and Tehran, in media headlines about the “new” evidence of Saudi funding of al Qaeda. Documentation of the … [Read more...] about Dumping Riyadh For Tehran