Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are long dead. The Iraq War officially ended in 2011. But the Afghanistan War grinds on, 17 years and counting with no resolution in sight. It was on Oct. 7, 2001, that President George W. Bush — backed by Congress — ordered U.S. troops...
The US Now Has Second-Class Status in the Middle East
You may not have noticed it – the chair that wasn’t there. The seven-year Syrian civil war is ending with a government victory, aided by Russia and Iran. Talks to end to the war are accelerating. Who is at the table in those talks? Russia, Turkey and Iran. Noticeably, not...
History Shows Sanctions Fail. Why Does US Impose Them?
What are sanctions and how do they affect a country’s economy? More importantly, do sanctions work? I ask these questions because U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has vowed on behalf of President Donald Trump to use the "strongest sanctions in history" to force Iran back to the table and negotiate...
U.S. Following Familiar Path to War with Iran
The Cato Institute's Christopher Preble sees troubling similarities between warnings about threats posed to America's interests by Iran and the build-up leading to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Writing for The National Interest, Preble points to the efforts by top U.S. officials to make the case for war while relying on information and...
Trump Puts America on Path to War by Ending Iran Deal: Sanders
President Trump’s decision last week that he will pull the United States out of the Iran nuclear agreement was the latest in a series of reckless decisions that move our country closer to conflict. By reimposing nuclear sanctions on Iran and withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, otherwise known...
If Bolton Starts a War With Iran, It Will Be Much Worse Than Iraq
With John Bolton joining the White House as President Donald Trump’s new national security adviser, risk of the U.S. going to war with Iran has increased to levels not seen since Dick Cheney was vice president. Bolton and Cheney were both architects of the Iraq war, a war that Bolton...
Tillerson's Firing and Pompeo's Rise Make Mideast War More Likely
After U.S. president Donald Trump fired his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, many analysts have focused on how this high-level ouster took place: unceremoniously, on Twitter, not in a face-to-face meeting. As a former Middle East analyst at the State Department, though, I think the real drama of replacing America’s...
Chaotic Middle East Puts World at Risk
Although the drumbeat of news reports may give the impression that much of the world is in crisis, the reality is quite the opposite, according to Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria. In his Friday, Feb. 16 post, Zakaria notes, "In almost every part of the world, economies are growing and...
Chaotic Middle East Puts World at Risk
Although the drumbeat of news reports may give the impression that much of the world is in crisis, the reality is quite the opposite, according to Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria. In his Friday, Feb. 16 post, Zakaria notes, "In almost every part of the world, economies are growing and...
Bad to Worse? What 2018 Will Bring to Volatile Middle East
It’s always dangerous to make predictions about the Middle East. After all, few experts foresaw Anwar al-Sadat’s trip to Jerusalem in 1977, which led to the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab state, nor did they predict the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 or the Arab uprisings of 2010-11....