“Is there art that is more beautiful, more divine, and more eternal than the art of martyrdom?” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then Iran’s President-elect, mused in a television address in 2005. “A nation with martyrdom knows no captivity.” Ahmadinejad’s broadcast over Iranian airwaves was not empty rhetoric. Indeed, Ahmadinejad subsequently launched a radical organization known as Gharargahe …
Continue reading “The World According to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad”
Today, the Democratic Party has a golden opportunity to reclaim the leadership role that it played on national security for most of the 20th Century. But, to do so, the party must discard a damaging mind-set that has clouded its thinking since Vietnam—defensive about American ideals and history, standoffish (if not hostile) toward the military, …
For the many Americans who are unhappy with President Bush, ‘tis tempting to revel in Venezuela President Hugo Chavez’s characterization of our polarizing leader as “the devil.” ‘Tis tempting, too, just weeks before elections that will determine control of Congress, for Bush’s critics to use Chavez’s speech at the United Nations as political fodder. Iowa’s …
Continue reading “Just another thug bashing the U.S. president”
We can debate endlessly whether we have adequately upgraded our military, secured our borders or protected key potential targets of terrorist attacks, such as chemical weapons plants. But, national security begins not with the arming of troops, fencing along borders, and X-ray machines at airports. It starts with the recognition that we are at war, …
Long-standing conflicts between peoples often create their own myths – over grievances, appropriate uses of force, and likely paths to peace. Nowhere is this truer than in the Middle East. With Israel and Hezbollah engaged in escalating conflict, leaders, experts and media the world over assume predictable, if not helpful, positions on the causes, consequences …
Enraged that U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman supports the war in Iraq, insurgent Democrats who are fueling Ned Lamont’s primary challenge to Lieberman have tightened the gap with the incumbent. They may feel good about it but, in fact, they are threatening not just the Democrats’ hold on that seat but also the national party’s growing …
Continue reading “Challenge to Lieberman could hurt all Democrats”
In the West’s approach to Iran, we are witnessing a classic example of appeasement toward not just a rising threat to Middle East stability but a growing global threat to freedom and democracy. Most recently, this appeasement has taken two forms. First, leading European nations announced plans to offer Iran new incentives to halt its …
Continue reading “West must stop appeasing, start pressuring Iran”