Left: President-Elect Dr. Tsai Ing-wen and her team holding their first press conference. I have just returned from Taiwan where I served as an International Election Observer. The result of the election was a historic victory for the opposition … [Read more...] about Better Cooperation Needed With Taiwan*
U.S. Policy
Stopping The Palestinians’ Simmering Terrorism*
Left: Arabic Caption: “We’ve come to slaughter you.” Published after the massacre of four rabbis and a Druze policeman in Jerusalem in November 2014. The Palestinian terror wave is not letting up, and fighting it more effectively requires a … [Read more...] about Stopping The Palestinians’ Simmering Terrorism*
Key factor in sharply-improved Putin-Netanyahu strategic ties? The Obama White House
Left: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Sept. 21, 2015 / EPA Israeli-Russian strategic cooperation already good was markedly improving in early October 2015. The primary impediment … [Read more...] about Key factor in sharply-improved Putin-Netanyahu strategic ties? The Obama White House
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
From the Head, But From the Heart?*
Credit: White House Pool / Reuters What was most striking about the President’s speech from the Oval Office – only his third in seven years – was that it “read” but did not “speak”. For despite his fame as an orator, the talk somehow lacked the … [Read more...] about From the Head, But From the Heart?*
Connecting the Terror in Paris with the Terror against Israel
Left: Kashmiri demonstrators hold up Palestinian flags and a flag of the Islamic State during a 2014 demonstration (AFP) Seemingly, the connection between the Islamic terror against the West and the Palestinian terror against Israel is confined to … [Read more...] about Connecting the Terror in Paris with the Terror against Israel
Turkey’s Story on Downing Russian Jet Doesn’t Add Up*
Left: Putin: Turkey's Downing Russian jet "is a stab in the back, carried out by the accomplices of terrorists." The Turkish story on the Russian jet shoot down does not hold up. In fact, the evidence points to a deliberate provocation by Turkey … [Read more...] about Turkey’s Story on Downing Russian Jet Doesn’t Add Up*
Vive la France!
Left: Eiffel Tower goes dark, after Paris terrorist attacks, Nov. 13, 2015 There are perhaps three all engulfing observations to be made from the horrific events in France this past Friday evening as the Muslim day of prayer and rest ended: The … [Read more...] about Vive la France!
What the Downing of the Russian Plane May Portend
Left: The remains of a Russian airliner are inspected by military investigators at the crash site at the al-Hasanah area in El Arish city, north Egypt. (Reuters). It is now generally accepted that the Russian commercial airliner that crashed in the … [Read more...] about What the Downing of the Russian Plane May Portend
Do the Palestinians Want Two States?*
Is the Palestinian “popular uprising” in its current manifestations the preferred form of struggle for the Fatah leadership – as opposed to small-scale demonstrations at focal points of friction? When an interviewer on a prominent TV show on the … [Read more...] about Do the Palestinians Want Two States?*