Foreign Policy and Electoral Politics

Why participate in electoral politics? This is a question I’m often asked by antiwar activists of all stripes, and especially by young people who wonder why they should bother with a process that oftentimes seems rigged from the get-go. With Election Day coming, and...

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The Chickenshit Lobby Is Mad As Hell

Israel, Israel, Israel, Israel – can we ever escape the endless kvetching of its partisans? In the media, in both houses of Congress, on the campuses and in the streets, Israel’s fifth column in America is everywhere, making its presence felt. From Chuck Hagel’s...

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Putin’s Complaint

The idea that the United States must exercise "global leadership" is rationalized by our interventionists as a necessary prerequisite for maintaining some type of "world order." Who will guard the sea lanes? Who will deter "aggression"?...

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A Note From the Recovery Room

I underwent surgery on Wednesday, and will be needing some recovery time. I'm not sure how much time I'll need at this point, so suffice to say here that there will be no Friday column, and perhaps no Monday column either. I very much regret missing two whole columns...

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Leslie Gelb Is Right

Amid all the hysteria surrounding the rise of the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIS), even the most frantic have usually refrained from calling for "boots on the ground," i.e. the re-invasion of Iraq. Except for John McCain, at most they say we need to arm...

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Is Mexico a Failed State?

Every time they find a mass grave, they think it’s the one they’re looking for – but it isn’t. No, this isn’t a Halloween tale: it’s a real life story about 43 missing Mexican students who once attended the Escuela Normal Rural Isidro Burgos, a small teachers' college...

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