However much President George W. Bush's "freedom agenda" asserted itself into U.S. foreign policy in the wake of the Iraq invasion three years ago, traditional geo-politics and the realpolitik that goes with it is making a remarkably strong...
Iran Pushes for Talks With US on Nukes, Security
Iranian leaders have been signaling to Washington since late 2005 that Iran wanted direct negotiations with the United States on Tehran's nuclear program and other outstanding issues between the two countries. The campaign began with private talks between Iranian...
Gasoline Prices and Energy Policy, True and False
The recent run-up in gasoline prices has led to a number of proposals by Washington politicians. It has also caused many people to be angry toward oil companies. What we are seeing looks like a replay of discussions and policy proposals that started in 1973 and...
‘I’m Already Against
the Next War’
It's the perfect day for a march. Sunny, crisp, clear, spring-like. The sort of day that just gives you hope for no reason at all, though my own hopes are not high for New York's latest antiwar demonstration. I haven't received a single e-mail about it. Many people I...
‘Taking Out’ Iran’s Nuclear Facilities: Not So Fast
Military actions were once taken only after careful war-gaming, which sought to elucidate likely and even not-so-likely responses from the other side. Today, as the bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities looms, it seems the moral certainty that defines the...
What About Darfur?
Whenever I speak on campus, I always get the "But what about Darfur?" question. This usually comes in tandem with the inevitable Holocaust question, which goes something like this: "Yes, I agree with your opposition to the Iraq war, and your anti-interventionist...
Terrorism Still Thriving, State Department Says
Four years into the "global war on terror," terrorism appears to be thriving, according to the 2005 edition of the annual "Country Reports on Terrorism" released here Friday by the U.S. State Department. While the control and reach of al Qaeda,...
Off With His Head!
On the surface, the question raised by six (at last count) retired generals of whether Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should resign has an obvious answer: of course he should. He was a key man in the cabal that lied us into the war in Iraq, and he may have been...
Unease Grows Over Israeli Restraint
JERUSALEM - The Israeli government promised restraint in the wake of the bombing of a Tel Aviv falafel snack stand this month that was described as the worst suicide attack in almost two years, and which the Hamas government condoned. But the Israeli promise has not...
Mad Cow
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters at a NATO foreign ministers meeting held Thursday in Sophia, Bulgaria, that it was "pretty clear" that Iran would not meet the requirements set by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and would likely reject...


