One of the eerier reports on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan appeared recently in the New York Times. Journalist John Burns visited the Russian ambassador in Kabul, Zamir N. Kabulov, who, back in the 1980s, when the Russians were the Americans in...
Of course, the default position for any citizen with a modicum of experience and common sense should be to prepare to be disappointed by a politician, especially one in whom one was rash enough to invest much hope. We are already seeing a certain amount of backing and...
A strategy of threats and "provocations" against Iran by the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama is likely to be counterproductive, according to a new report released here Friday by a group of 20 former top U.S. diplomats and regional...
Updated at 3:15 p.m. EST, Nov. 17, 2008At least 18 Iraqis were killed and another 45 were wounded in the latest attacks. Another seven people were injured during an explosion blamed on a defective pipeline. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, the Iraqi...
Last April, top George W. Bush administration officials, desperate to exploit any possible crack in the close relationship between the Nouri al-Maliki government and Iran, launched a new round of charges that Iran had stepped up covert arms assistance to Shia...
Updated at 8:55 p.m. EST, Nov. 16, 2008The Iraqi Cabinet approved a U.S-Iraqi security agreement that will allow U.S. troops to remain in Iraq and forwarded it to Parliament for their approval. Meanwhile, at least 37 Iraqis were killed and 30 more were wounded in...
Few incoming presidents have been left by their predecessors with as many challenges as Barack Obama. In fact, with the daunting terrain facing the incoming president, one wonders why Obama and John McCain even wanted the office. Other presidents facing an...
It appears increasingly likely that the most important and enduring legacy of the Bush-Cheney administrations will be the destruction of the international nuclear-weapons proliferation-prevention regime as it existed at the end of the second Clinton-Gore...
Updated at 8:35 p.m. EST, Nov. 15, 2008At least 16 Iraqis were killed and 75 more were wounded in the latest round of violence. Four U.S. servicemembers died in separate incidents, including a helicopter crash in Mosul. Meanwhile, Iraqi and U.S. negotiators have...
The sun is sinking fast behind the trees of an olive grove on the outskirts of the West Bank village of Nilin. After a day of confrontations between the Israeli army and the Palestinian villagers over Israel's building of its separation wall on Nilin's land, the...
