Ehsan Ahrari

As the Obama administration is busy forming a coalition to fight-eradicate the Islamic State (IS) or (ISIS/ISIL), the evolving coalition that gathered last week in Paris was a far cry from the one put together by George H. W. Bush in 1991 to fight and expel Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait. Today’s participants of the … Continue reading “Heading Toward Failure: A Coalition of the ‘Reluctantly Willing’”

The nuclear test by North Korea has created a major tremor among Bush administration officials and the Democrats. The brunt of the debate is whether the Bush administration or the Clinton administration is responsible for Kim Jong-Il’s latest move. Sen. Hillary Clinton has placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Bush regime, which … Continue reading “How Not to Handle
Iran’s Nuke Aspirations”

President Hugo Chávez’s speech at the U.N. on September 20, 2006 created a new nadir of crudeness. It was also just one more attempt to demonize an opponent. He depicted President George W. Bush as the devil. Watching him speak extemporaneously, and with so much malice, one wonders where this world of ours is heading. … Continue reading “The Devil and the Post-9/11 Era”

There is nothing "normal" or "ordinary" about Pakistan, from the rationale for its creation to the fact that it played a crucial role in the last epic battle of the Cold War, the expulsion of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. It played an equally significant role in the first battle of George W. Bush’s global … Continue reading “Uneasy Partners: Pakistan and the United States”

On the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the question asked within and outside of the United States is whether America is winning the global war on terrorism (GWOT). As far as President George W. Bush is concerned, the answer is “yes.” But about 85 percent of the counterterrorism experts recently … Continue reading “The US Is Losing
the War on Terror”

Israel’s war against Lebanon is about reestablishing its conventional deterrence. That is the ultimate goal, even though a frequently stated purpose of that war is to disarm Hezbollah as a fighting force in Lebanon, or even to neutralize it. The most telling aspect of Israel’s confrontation with Hezbollah is that Hezbollah provoked the Jewish state … Continue reading “Israel’s Bid to Reestablish Deterrence Is Failing”

Hezbollah, by kidnapping two and killing several Israeli soldiers, has drawn a forceful response from the Jewish state. One perspective is that the Islamist organization was surprised by the ferocity of that response. It can also be argued that such intensity only fulfills the objective of Hezbollah to create an imbroglio for Israel in Lebanon … Continue reading “Fourth Generation War
in Lebanon”

As Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure is being destroyed by the Israeli air force and artillery, the Arab leaders are fighting their own petty "sectarian war." The first salvo of that war was fired by King Abdullah of Jordan in December 2004 when he described the emerging alliance as a "Shia crescent." He was describing the "coalition" … Continue reading “The Real Challenge From the ‘Shia Crescent’”

Until the second term of George W. Bush is over, the neoconservatives would do their best to kick up a storm of criticism and controversy every time the United States decides to give diplomacy a chance. However, as long as Vice President Dick Cheney is mentoring Bush on issues of foreign policy, the neocons have … Continue reading “Alive and Still Kicking Hard: Washington’s Neocons”