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 …
Fifty years ago today, a dashing young American president visited Rice University, in Houston, TX, and spoke words that reflected the optimism and can-do spirit that had defined his nation since its founding. Explaining his call of a year earlier that the United States achieve the goal of “landing a man on the moon and …
U.S. foreign aid, which dates back to the early 1950s, is designed to support U.S. national security by helping our friends, pressuring our adversaries, and promoting a safer, more prosperous world. That’s why U.S. aid shifted over the years as our priorities shifted – from winning the Cold War through the 1980s to supporting U.S. …
Continue reading “Egypt’s Morsi thumbs his nose at United States”
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”
On the Iran nuclear crisis, hope not only springs eternal; in Western circles, it springs maddeningly so. We often hear that our approach to stopping Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weaponry is working; Iran is more isolated than ever; sanctions are biting; its economy is suffering; Tehran is ready to talk. The international community can solve …
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 …
The news of recent days reminds us that, in a close U.S. presidential election (as the ObamaRomney contest is expected to be), Jews have an influence that far exceeds their numbers across America. That’s because they congregate in key swing states (e.g., Florida, Ohio) and the wealthiest among them tap their resources for candidates and …