The narrow rejection of the Colombian referendum that was supposed to have approved a peace accord between the government and the FARC guerrilla group should have surprised exactly no one. That’s because the conflict that has wracked Colombia goes all the way back to...
America’s Outdated Special Relationship With Saudi Arabia
The current US presidential campaign debate on Middle East policy has focused disproportionately on the US response to the Islamic State (ISIS or IS). This series will focus instead on five alternative Middle East policy challenges facing the next president. This...
Son of Former Deputy PM Assassinated; 144 Killed in Iraq
Peres’ Disputed Funeral
Many years ago, Haim Hefer produced a Hebrew adaptation of Norman Byfield Thomas' "Naughty Little Flea", depicting an ambitious young flea who, born in the hair of a lousy mouse, kept leaping up from dog to donkey to horse, paving its way all the way up to Cabinet....
America’s Deceptive Model for Aggression
Across the political spectrum, US leaders insist that they will only go to war “as a last resort.” They want us to believe that they will try every peaceful means to resolve differences with other countries before resorting to war. But if those “peaceful means” mean...
After Peres, Is Peace Possible in the Middle East?
The death of former Israeli president and prime minister Shimon Peres last week marks the last of the Zionist “old guard” who successfully fought for a UN mandate to establish the state of Israel in what was formerly British Palestine. Much has been...
First Debate Showed That Both Major Candidates Stink on Foreign Policy
Although Hillary seemed more likable than usual in the first presidential debate and Trump was his old angry and agitated self, they both still have record-breaking unfavorable ratings as candidates. Yet that is because overwhelmingly, people just don’t like their...
Pilgrims Attacked in Baghdad; 120 Killed in Iraq
Russia-Baiting and Risks of Nuclear War
As U.S. and Russian officials trade barbed threats and as diplomacy on Syria is “on the verge” of extinction, it is tempting to view the ongoing propaganda exchange over who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July 2014 as a sideshow. That would be a huge mistake...
Shimon Peres and the 9/11 Attacks
The death of former Israeli prime minister and president Shimon Peres (age 93), the last major figure of Israel's founding generation, has brought an outpouring of tributes for a man who reputedly had, as President Obama put it in his eulogy, "the capacity to see all...


