Leon Hadar

If you’ve been listening to the story-line composed by American officials promoting the Bush administration’s foreign policy, you might have concluded that two recent international developments are all part of the Freedom Narrative. The two developments are the Chinese opposition to the security accord between Washington and Tokyo that announced for the first time that … Continue reading “Get Real, America”

As Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party were moving toward capturing political power in Germany, in the aftermath of the last democratic parliamentary elections there in March 1933, there was no indication that the German Communist party was mounting any concerted response against the threat. The relative inaction of the Communists reflected the belief among … Continue reading “The Neocons’ Devotion to Doctrine”

Much of the media coverage of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent trip to Europe seemed to be preoccupied with the new American chief diplomat’s winning style. Apparently “Chere Condi” has succeeded in charming even those “old” Europeans, including French pundits. But while there is no doubt that Ms. Rice, the first African-American woman … Continue reading “US vs EU”

Even some of President George W. Bush’s most enthusiastic conservative Republican supporters have expressed a sense of alarm over the grandiose and expansive vision of America’s mission in the world – “support[ing] the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world” – … Continue reading “A Spacey Vision for Democracy”

In the spy business, “blowback” is a term used to describe unintended negative consequences of actions taken by intelligence agencies to advance national interests. The phrase was allegedly coined by spooks at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to refer to an agent, an operative, or an operation that turned on its creator. Indeed, given prior … Continue reading “Don’t Expect Shi’ites to Toe American Line”

Since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Sept 11, 2001, the conventional wisdom among American policymakers has been that the United States, its allies and the entire international community have been forced to place the threat of international terrorism on the top of their policy agendas. Indeed, the notion that the "war … Continue reading “Fears of Terrorism Are Unjustified”