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February 7, 2011 In Defense of Ayaan Hirsi Ali & Afshin Ellian Paul Berman's book, The Flight of the Intellectuals, which was neglected or dismissed by many in the liberal press without its reviewers seriously engaging with its arguments, deals es... February 7, 2011 Afghan Peace Council Requests Release of Gitmo Detainee Afghanistan's High Peace Council has requested the release of Khairullah Khairkhwa, a top Taliban leader, from Guantanamo. The council was set up by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2010 as... February 6, 2011 A Power Vacuum in Egypt? After meeting with embattled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak last week at the behest of President Barack Obama, former U.S. ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner suggested Mubarak should stay in powe... February 6, 2011 Taliban Mourn Death of ‘Eminent Commander’ at Gitmo In a piece last week, I noted that a former Taliban commander, Awal Gul, died of an apparent heart attack at Guantanamo on Tuesday, Feb. 1. The Taliban have now released a statement online... February 6, 2011 How Democracy Became Halal IN the Western study of medieval Islamic history, the institution of iqta — land grants from the sovereign to his soldiers — once loomed large, because scholars searched for reasons b... February 6, 2011 The Next Decade,’ by George Friedman: Review The Next Decade Where We've Been ... and Where We're Going By George Friedman (Doubleday; 243 pages; $27.95) One can easily understand why George Fri... February 5, 2011 Don’t Count on Egypt’s Army My name is Khalid Islambouli,” the assassin thundered. “I have slain Pharaoh, and I do not fear death!” This was at an annual state parade in Cairo on October 6, 1981. Islamboul... February 5, 2011 Reagan at 100: The 40th President, American Security and Missile Defense Co-Authored with Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering III (USAF, ret.) A century ago, on Feb. 6th, 1911, Ronald Reagan was born. Much has been written about his presidential leade... February 4, 2011 UN and U.S. Double Standards: Egypt vs. Iran After an initial United Nations response to the mass uprising in Egypt of … well, not much… Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has jumped into the fray. On Wednesday and again on Thursda... February 4, 2011 An Immediate Exit for Mubarak? Over the course of 10 excruciating days, the White House has inched toward calling for the resignation of embattled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. A likely scenario is now one in which newly-i... February 4, 2011 U.S. Senators Demand that Germany Close Iran EIH Bank U.S. frustration with German chancellor Angela Merkel and her foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, seems to have reached a breaking point this week. Germany's recalcitrant position about shutting d... February 4, 2011 Three Qualities That Made Reagan Great During my nine years in the White House, I had the good fortune to work for three presidents—Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and, for the last four, Ronald Reagan, whom I served as national secu... February 4, 2011 Former Taliban Commander Dies at Gitmo A former Taliban commander died Tuesday evening at Guantanamo after suffering an apparent heart attack or similar ailment. US Southern Command released a statement on Thursday explaining that the... February 3, 2011 Will Cairo be Berlin in 1989 or Tehran in 1979? The popular uprising in Egypt invites a variety of historical comparisons. It could end up like Bucharest in 1989 — cosmetic change in the leadership that subsequently resulted in violent o... February 2, 2011 Mubarak v. the Brotherhood It is simply delirious to suggest that we can work with the Muslim Brotherhood, that the Brotherhood has renounced violence, or that a Brotherhood-led government will ultimately be better f... February 2, 2011 The Problem of the Friendly Tyrant We’ve had many alliances with friendly tyrants, from Stalin to Papa Doc, from Mubarak to Pinochet, from the shah to the Saudi royal family. It’s not an easy embr... February 1, 2011 El Baradei and the Al Qaqaa Affair I’d all but forgotten this — but Powerline remembered: El Baradei achieved his greatest renown in connection with the pre-war weapons inspections in Iraq, which he hea... February 1, 2011 How Far Will Egypt Tumult Spread? Immediately after the fall of Tunisia's 23-year dictator, Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, analysts warned of a domino effect across the Arab world. Would-be democrats in other Arab countries reason... February 1, 2011 Mubarak won’t run again — what’s the effect? Hosni Mubarak's announcement sparked immediate outrage from the Egyptian protestors, who have stated repeatedly over the last several days that they seek nothing less than his ouster.... February 1, 2011 Somalia in Need of New Approach Two Decades after State Collapse Last week marked the twentieth anniversary of the night when Mohamed Siyad Barre, president of the last entity that could plausibly be described as the government of Somalia, fled Mogadishu in hi... February 1, 2011 The Answer to Egypt’s Problems? President Mubarak’s government may soon collapse. Popular support for him has evaporated, and while the Obama administration has declined to officially take sides in the Egyptian protests,... February 1, 2011 Italian Court Convicts Former Gitmo Detainee of Terrorism Charges A former Guantanamo detainee transferred to Italy in late 2009 was convicted of terrorism-related charges on Monday. Mohamed Ben Riadh Nasri, who is originally from Tunisia, was convicted "of cri... January 31, 2011 What Could Be Worse Than ElBaradei? Jay could not be more correct that Mohammed ElBaradei is a menace. He is more responsible than any non-Iranian for the progress the mullahs have made on their nuke program (with dishonorabl... January 31, 2011 Diplomat Slams German-Iranian Trade Ahead of Merkel Trip BERLIN – Emmanuel Nahshon, the deputy chief of mission for the Israeli Embassy, criticized what he said was the planned promotion of German-Iranian trade at a conference on exports to Iran to be... January 31, 2011 Ahmadinejad Says Homosexuality Goes ‘Against Human Spirit’ BERLIN – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is continuing to vilify homosexuals, according to the Islamic Republic's statecontrolled ILNA news agency. "They asked me [at Columbia University in... January 31, 2011 Steel Deal Reveals Pawlenty’s Priorities on Security, Jobs If former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty decides, as expected, to run for president in 2012, he likely will talk about a unique national security qualification from 2007 in which he nudged an Indian c... January 31, 2011 Who Stands With Iran’s Opposition? PARIS — Excruciating new problems never nullify the old ones. In the case of Iran's potential nuclear threat, Egypt's gathering implosion — joined by some new elements of concern — is only mo... January 31, 2011 Fear the Muslim Brotherhood At the Daily Beast, Bruce Riedel has posted an essay called “Don’t fear Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood,” the classic, conventional-wisdom response to the crisis in Egypt. The... January 31, 2011 Watch the Islamists An estimated three dozen Islamist militants reportedly escaped from an Egyptian prison on Sunday amid the chaos that has enveloped the country. This did little to quiet the raging debate over the... January 30, 2011 What Would a Post-Mubarak Egypt Look Like? The road to Egypt's future forks in three different directions. Which exit the Egyptian people take is still anyone's guess. The first exit is effectively a U-turn back t... January 30, 2011 Egypt: Please, Not ElBaradei Freedom, justice, and prosperity for Egypt are devoutly to be wished. As is abundantly clear by now, the big question for the genuine democrats among the demonstrators, and a big question for the... January 30, 2011 Cancer, Carter and Obama There are some eery similarities between Egypt 2011 and Iran 1979, and some of them are unfortunately about American leadership. There are some big differences, too, but for the moment let&... January 29, 2011 Untangling Ghailani In Manhattan on Tuesday, Judge Lewis Kaplan gave al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Ghailani a sentence of life imprisonment after his conviction on a single count of conspiring to bomb American embassies... January 28, 2011 The Muslim Brotherhood is No Friend Writing for the Daily Beast, Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and adviser to the Obama administration, argues that the U.S. can coexist with a Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Egypt. The Obam... January 28, 2011 Egypt: Revolution? By Whom? For What? As I’ve remarked in the past–but you can’t say the truth too often, right? — nobody knows what a revolution looks like. And in fact that last clause may be very misl... January 28, 2011 Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Revolution "I herewith proclaim to those (Western leaders) who still do not want to see the realities that the political axis of the new Middle East will soon be Islamic rulership and a democracy base... January 28, 2011 Will Obama back Middle East Democracy Movements? President Barack Obama campaigned as the polar opposite of his predecessor, George W. Bush, heralding the end of the Bush Doctrine, in which Arab political reform played a central role. Upo... January 28, 2011 Democracy Is Calling in Egypt — Can Obama Hear It? "We do big things," President Barack Obama said of Americans in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. But as he presented his presidential laundry list of domestic policy ideas, big thing... January 28, 2011 Tony Blair: To Defeat al Qaeda We Must Also Defeat Iran “How do you deal with al Qaeda?” former British Prime Minister Tony Blair asked rhetorically during a public hearing in London earlier this month. Mr. Blair quickly answered his own q... January 28, 2011 The Importance of Bahrain Authored by Steven Sotloff Another round of talks and another failure to find a breakthrough over Iran’s nuclear programme. Despite it being the most pressing crisis facin... January 28, 2011 Democracy Will Prevail in Egypt and Across the Middle East Democracy has been the dominant form of political organization in Canada and other English-speaking countries for so long that we often forget just how historically unusual it is. Until the estab... January 27, 2011 Mikati’s Probationary Period The reactions from Washington, Paris and Riyadh following Najib Mikati’s designation as prime minister suggest that we are now in a watchful, wait-and-see period. Everyone is keeping a clos... January 27, 2011 Egypt’s Day of Anger The aftershocks of Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution continue to reverberate across the Arab world. On January 25, Egyptians began an unprecedented revolt against poverty, corruption and thirty... January 26, 2011 The New York Times Goes to (Spy) War The New York Times has been amusing itself — for the second time in as many years — at the expense of Duane “Dewey” Clarridge, a retired CIA Operations Off... January 26, 2011 The Guardian Wants Its Two-State Solution Back. Beware. When the Guardian launched its “Palestine Papers” on Sunday, the sensational leak was accompanied by an editorial, which was sensationally titled “Pleading for a fig leaf&... January 26, 2011 Swiss Adopt EU Sanctions on Teheran BERLIN – Switzerland will fall into line with European Union sanctions targeting Iran's energy, nuclear proliferation and weapons sectors, its government said last week. "Bundesrat gives u... January 25, 2011 How the Guardian Helped Kill the Peace Process As Alana noted yesterday, the extent of Palestinian concessions during peace talks, once made public, has seriously damaged PA leaders — and the State Department has weighed, noting that th... January 25, 2011 Iran Talks and Repetitive Motion Disorder Berlin — The nuclear negotiations between Iran’s regime and the Obama administration, including U.S. global partners Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, and Germany, have... January 24, 2011 The Guardian’s Spin on the Palestine Papers If I may highlight one more thing regarding Noah Pollak’s excellent take-down of the “Palestine Papers” that the Guardian and Al Jazeera leaked to the public over the weekend, t... January 24, 2011 Mukasey Must Reading Two things you really ought to read. First, in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, former attorney general Michael Mukasey reviewed two books that analyze U.S. national security...

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