The pressure that has been on Barack Obama with respect to reinforcement of the war in Afghanistan resembles that placed on John F. Kennedy to send American combat troops to Vietnam during the 18 months before his assassination. Kennedy made an early decision that...
Getting Out With Grace
PARIS -- There are two tried and disproved methods for dealing with insurrection in a non-Western country. The third and reliable method is not to go there in the first place. The fourth is get out with such grace as is possible, as rapidly as possible. President...
A Year With Obama – and US Foreign Relations Have Only Worsened
Who would have thought a year ago that most of the issues of conflict in America's foreign relations would be made worse during the first year following Barack Obama's election as U.S. president? Even those disputes or differences that were appeased or quiet a year...
Arrogant US Misses the Message From Pakistan’s People
There has always been in American foreign policy circles a virus called arrogance, caused by the hereditary assumption that Americans know better than others. Surprisingly, this does not always prove the case, but the condition seems highly resistant to treatment,...
For Europe, US Is the Country That Cries Wolf
With al-Qaeda Diminished, There’s No Sense in Expanding Afghan War
Gen. McChrystal’s Celebrity Weekend
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Barack Obama's choice for commander in what he has renamed the AfPak theater, in what no longer is called the Global War on Terror, has been trying, with the help of Democratic as well as Republican hawks, to bounce President Obama...
The Consequences of the Palestinian-Israel Status Quo
A Puzzling, Dangerous US Policy Comes to an End
Presidents Need a War to Call Their Own — Now Obama Has His
PARIS -- The more one hears the discussion among Democrats about the war in Afghanistan, the more one feels that it is a serious handicap that Barack Obama has no personal experience of international relations or of foreign policy or military service, beyond such...


