With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to expel the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, from his country, perhaps Washington can finally set aside its illfounded belief – through presidencies of both parties – that U.S. leaders can build productive ties to Moscow’s strongman. Our leaders do this from time to time – convince …
For the moment, let’s set aside the friction in U.S.-Israeli relations over Iran’s nuclear program, which serves neither Washington nor Jerusalem. Let’s move beyond White House efforts to prevent an Israeli military strike before Election Day and its distancing from America’s closest ally in the Middle East; beyond Tehran’s accelerating progress on the nuclear front …
Continue reading “Post-Election, Iran Could Become Obama’s Decision”
Jaap Polak walks gingerly these days, leaning on a cane or holding the rail as he climbs the stairs to his second-floor room at The Sparhawk, a comfortable waterfront resort in the southern Maine town of Ogunquit. That’s where, for more than half a century, he and his wife, Ina Soep, have spent a few …
Freedom and democracy don’t come easily to a land that’s known precious little of it over time. Often, a nation overthrows an authoritarian government and replaces it with a democratically elected one, only to see the new government subvert the rule of law and impose a new authoritarianism. That’s why as a nation teeters between …
Continue reading “US Should Forcefully Encourage Free Elections In Georgia”
Events in Libya and Egypt highlight the potential benefits of United States human rights promotion – both for the U.S. and for people across the world – as well as the downsides of America’s failure to pursue that task. The U.S. promotes human rights – i.e., freedom and democracy – for both moral and selfish …
Across the Middle East, hopes for Arab-Israeli peace face obstacles that, of late, are rising on multiple fronts. Fatah and Hamas are working toward a coalition government, which will further empower a terrorist group that’s sworn to Israel’s destruction and isolate Palestinian moderates; a candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood is assuming the presidency in Egypt …
“Life,” the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said, “must be lived forward, but can only be understood backwards.” What’s true of individuals is true of nations. As we, as a nation, look back in an effort to understand our history, we invariably question some of the decisions we made – and the horror we tolerated. Years from …