Ukraine responded to Russia’s troop buildup on its border by demanding membership in NATO. However, neither the U.S. nor the Europeans, especially, are inclined to open the alliance door. Ukraine might pocket the resulting defense guarantee and launch an offensive...
Israeli Sabotage of the Nuclear Deal Fails Again
The Israeli government’s latest attempt to sabotage negotiations over the nuclear deal with Iran has failed. Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility suffered a significant attack on April 11 that caused a blackout and destroyed or damaged hundreds of centrifuges. The Israeli...
Iraq Daily Roundup: Three Killed
A Biden-Putin Summit: Jaw-Jaw Is Better Than War-War
On April 13, US president Joe Biden spoke by phone with Russian president Vladimir Putin, whom he has previously referred to, in pot/kettle fashion, as a “killer.” During the call, Biden proposed a summit between the two in the near future. Writing in the...
Why Can’t We ‘Just March Out’ of Afghanistan?
Last week President Biden announced a “full” US withdrawal from Afghanistan – the longest war in US history – by the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the United States. While this announcement is to be welcomed, the delayed US withdrawal...
America’s Intel Vampires Can’t See Themselves in the Mirror: DNI’s Hypocritical and Self-Awareness-Absent Annual Threat Assessment
Make no mistake: much policy indecency is permitted and enabled by vacuously vague bureaucratic reports peddling in platitudes. For further evidence bolstering this increasingly open-and-shut case, see Exhibit number 3,472, or so: last week’s release of the Annual...
Iraq Daily Roundup: Four Security Members Killed
Oh, No! Al-Qaeda Out of Cave on 9/12!
The current discussion on the planned withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan centers on a benighted belief that my former CIA analyst-colleague Paul Pillar exposed 12 years ago. Paul called it the "key tenet that Afghanistan must not be allowed to...
As Castro Rule Fades in Cuba, Americans Should Engage the Cuban People
The Castro brothers ruled Cuba for more than six decades. The results have not been pretty. An island impoverished in body and mind. Even artists have been protesting of late, punished by the security forces for having the temerity to question the communist...
How To Make a Gulf Monarchy All-American
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Some things just never seem to end. What came to mind was the way in which, during administration after administration, the Saudis and other foreign powers have poured money into Washington to ensure that their governments and their...


