“I am not scared,” said a young woman, her clothes drenched in blood, during last week’s protest in Tehran to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 1999 student uprising against Iran’s brutal regime, “because we are in this together.” Hundreds of miles away in the Italian town of L’Aguila, leaders of the Group of Eight …
“Hope springs eternal in the human breast,” Alexander Pope wrote in 1733, as if presaging the seemingly endless search for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. On this issue, hope springs to life especially with the change of political seasons in Washington, Jerusalem and other key capitals. New leaders assume office, promising to apply new energy …
In a recent Rasmussen poll, just 53 percent of American adults said they believe capitalism is better than socialism. The rest thought socialism was better or were not sure. The poll shows just how much the global economic crisis has shaken the confidence that, until recently, the United States-led free market economy will continue to …
Tehran’s brutal crackdown on democracy-hungry protestors may have defeated the most serious threat to the Iranian regime since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, but the Obama Administration will continue to face the questions of how to respond to such uprisings and when to promote democracy around the world. These questions offer no easy answers. Cultures …
Continue reading “America’s Human Rights Challenges Extend Beyond Iran”
At first blush, the gripping images of popular uprising and deadly crackdown in Iran have severely complicated President Obama’s approach to that nation, jeopardizing his plans for deliberative “engagement” with Iran’s leaders to convince them to abandon their quest for nuclear weaponry. How, after all, can the United States seek dialogue with a regime that …
Continue reading “Iran’s Turmoil May Prove Convenient for Obama”
The recent rise in interest rates may mark the first sign that the chickens of Washington’s fiscal recklessness are coming home to roost, as investors worry that huge budget deficits in the coming years will threaten not just recovery from today’s recession but longer-term economic growth as well Top federal policymakers are responding. Federal Reserve …
Continue reading “Needed: A New Imperative to Cut the Deficit”
President Obama’s decision to speak in Cairo this week is symbolically appropriate because, for better and for worse, that city highlights the multiple conflicts across the Middle East on which he must take sides. What he says publicly and how he maneuvers privately in Cairo, and during his earlier stop in Riyadh, will either cement …
Continue reading “Three Ways Obama Must Choose Wisely in Cairo”