Left: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. The communist leadership of China; President Putin of Russia; Turkey’s Erdogan, King Salman of Saudi Arabia. Should Israel deal with such regimes? They are all wholesale … [Read more...] about Dancing with Tyrants*
Syria
The Salafis Daddy Warbucks – Saudi Arabia
The first-ever global meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) network of some 200 jurisdictions over the weekend in Paris, “to discuss actions…to combat the financing of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) …and to combat the … [Read more...] about The Salafis Daddy Warbucks – Saudi Arabia
Dangerous Mideast Reality*
The volatility of Middle East events notwithstanding, a new picture is emerging of alliances very different from those preceding the outbreak of the Arab Spring and the now five-year-old Syrian civil war. That new reality is obscured by the Obama … [Read more...] about Dangerous Mideast Reality*
The New Old Sick Man of Europe*
For a century European politics was dogged with “the sick man of Europe”: the collapsing Ottoman Empire and its implications for the major powers. That’s not the case now, of course. Multi-ethnic empires are a thing of the past, their death rattle … [Read more...] about The New Old Sick Man of Europe*
A Response to Bernard-Henri Lévy*
On November 16, 2015, French public intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy published a commentary in which he urges the West to acknowledge that it is at war and must call things by their right names. He subsequently argues that we must battle Islamic jihad … [Read more...] about A Response to Bernard-Henri Lévy*
Portrait of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, ISIS Belgian Terrorist*
Overview Abdelhamid Abaaoud (Abu Oud) was a terrorist operative of Belgian origin who headed the network that carried out the terrorist attack in Paris. After the attack he was pursued by the French security forces. On November 18, 2015, French … [Read more...] about Portrait of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, ISIS Belgian Terrorist*
Spotlight on Iran (Nov. 8-22, 2015)*
Overview The Iranian forces continue to suffer heavy losses in the fierce battles being waged in northwestern Syria. During the past two weeks at least 17 more Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) fighters were killed, at least five of them … [Read more...] about Spotlight on Iran (Nov. 8-22, 2015)*
Refugees, Terrorists and Morality
Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, America’s leaders are presented with a vexing problem of statecraft, which poses realism versus idealism. Millions of refugees are pouring out of Syria; victims of the more than four years … [Read more...] about Refugees, Terrorists and Morality
Which Side Are YOU On?
The world has been at war for sixty-eight of the past hundred years. World War I lasted four years, World War II six years, the Cold War 44 years and the war with radical is now fourteen years old and counting. Western civilization eventually won … [Read more...] about Which Side Are YOU On?
Obama’s illogic
Left: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President Barack Obama. (Photo: Cihan), Nov.13, 2015 The confusion in the President’s thinking and strategy about the current terrorist crisis is frightening in its implications. As the tragic … [Read more...] about Obama’s illogic