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Trump visit to Israel could mean land mines ahead
Posted on May 21, 2017 Leave a Comment
No doubt Donald Trump hoped the Israel leg of his first foreign trip as president was going to be a piece of cake. Instead, the whole thing might crumble more quickly than poorly baked mandelbread. During the 2016 campaign, Trump bragged that he would be Israel’s best friend. He would move the U.S. Embassy from […]
Trump’s Syria gambit feels like Russian roulette
Posted on April 12, 2017 Leave a Comment
If you’re getting whiplash from yanking your head back and forth trying to keep up with Donald Trump’s evolving foreign policy (and we’re using that term loosely), you’re not alone. Trump is changing gears faster than a Grand Prix driver in a Bugatti. Since 2013, Trump has strongly advocated staying out of Syria. His 140-character […]
Jared Kushner’s endless job list is just another Trump dump
Posted on April 10, 2017 1 Comment
Donald Trump has been assigning his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the weight of the world. The 36-year-old real estate developer’s only qualifications for public service are being married to first daughter Ivanka Trump and being loyal to the White House’s part-time occupant. But that’s enough to load up his plate with more helpings of hurt than an […]
Disqualifying Trump rhetoric: He won’t back NATO
Posted on July 21, 2016 Leave a Comment
In the latest frightening entry in the myriad reasons why America should not and must not elect Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee now says he refuses to commit to fulfilling U.S. promises to support its NATO allies. In an interview on foreign policy with The New York Times, Trump admits to sharing his disdain […]
Diplomacy wins again in battle vs. guns: Iran edition
Posted on January 16, 2016 Leave a Comment
Three international examples about Iran show us the power of words over weapons. Two U.S. Navy boats in the Persian Gulf drifted into Iranian waters near Iran’s Farsi Island after sailors made what U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter called “navigational errors.” One of the boats was having engine trouble, making it unable to leave when […]
Iran deal a true breakthrough in nuclear weapons race
Posted on July 14, 2015 1 Comment
Seven years after then-presidential candidate Barack Obama proposed talking to Iran about ramping down its nuclear program, that idea has become a reality. The historic agreement between Iran and six world powers freezes Iran’s nuclear program for the next decade in exchange for gradual sanctions relief, President Obama said in describing the deal in an […]
Bush criticizing Obama foreign policy on Iran nuclear deal defines chutzpah
Posted on April 27, 2015 Leave a Comment
On Saturday night, the 44th president, Barack Obama, delivered some funny one-liners at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington. More than 2,000 miles away, the 43rd president, George W. Bush, delivered some unintentionally funny lines of his own. According to a story in The New York Times, Bush told a closed-door meeting of the […]
Is the tide turning against ISIS? How can we figure it out?
Posted on March 16, 2015 Leave a Comment
Depending on your news sources (and I’m using the term loosely), you may have noticed a downturn in coverage of the Islamic State. Just a week ago, the group known as ISIS or ISIL seemed to be taking over the entire Middle East. Within days, the news shifted that the self-styled caliphate might be falling […]
GOP’s letter to Iran: Treason or just stupid?
Posted on March 11, 2015 1 Comment
Republicans are being excoriated across the country — and rightly so — for sending a letter to “the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran” trying to sabotage in advance any deal President Obama might make with Iranians on limiting Iran’s nuclear program. I’m sure “Tehran Tom” Cotton of Arkansas and the other 46 GOP […]
What’s bigger: ISIS threat or media scaremongering?
Posted on February 25, 2015 Leave a Comment
When Chris Hayes of MSNBC and Laura Ingraham of Fox News agree on something, you know you’ve stumbled onto something real. I don’t mean to downplay the threat that Islamic State zealots pose in the Middle East. But we’ve gotten to the point where one YouTube video sends American media into a feeding frenzy of […]
