Category: McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Global sanctions on Iran are working; relaxing them now would be foolhardy

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Calls to ease sanctions on Iran to spur global negotiations over its nuclear program will backfire, making a deal far less likely and greatly raising the risk of an Israeli military strike to cripple the program. To its proponents, sanctions-easing is a necessary confidence-boosting measure to assure Iran that the United States and the other …

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Bold action in Syria now will save U.S. tons of grief in the Mideast later

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As Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad continues his slaughter, the issue is not whether more forceful U.S. action to stop him is risk-free. The issue, instead, is how the risks and potential rewards of more forceful U.S. action to stop Assad’s slaughter stack up against those of a continued U.S. reliance on sanctions and diplomacy that …

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Radical Muslim power grabs in key Arab nations would be huge setback for U.S.

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At its best, U.S. policy toward the Middle East consists of a deft combination of short-term pragmatism and long-term idealism. In the short term, Washington works to protect Israel and other U.S. allies, combat terrorism, rebuff Iran’s hegemonic ambitions, and support regional stability, all of which ensures the continued flow of oil to power Western …

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Surgical strikes against key facilities would force Iran to face military reality

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The Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States and bomb Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington and elsewhere was not some bizarre move by a rogue operator within Iran’s government. It was, instead, the logical next step in Iran’s increasingly lethal war against the United States – a step demanding that …

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