Donald Trump Must Hold Turkey Accountable for Its Actions
Turkey’s authoritarian leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan was premature in his optimism at the re-election of Donald Trump. Erdogan is convinced that his existing relationship with Trump, will...
Nicolás Maduro
Washington must sanction the businesses backing Maduro in Venezuela
Sanctions on Venezuela are more necessary now than ever. In the wake of Venezuela’s fraudulent election that resulted in Nicolás Maduro’s illicit retention of power, hundreds of government-owned businesses continue to generate billions of dollars to fuel Maduro’s repression and quell dissent. Washington must now aggressively sanction the businesses backing Maduro’s rule...
Op-eds
Maduro Is Putin’s Proxy and Must Be Stopped
After claiming victory in what observers deem to be falsified elections, Venezuela’s autocrat is benefitting from Putin’s support. It is in America’s strategic interest to defeat both of them.
Op-eds
From Rust to Riches: Venezuela’s Sanctions Evasion Strategy
Scrap metal exports have proven a valuable source of dollars for the heavily sanctioned Maduro regime.
Op-eds
Amid Tensions With Israel, Brazil Withdraws Ambassador
Brazil recalled its ambassador to Israel, the government announced in its official gazette on May 29. In February, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also known as Lula, compared Israel’s actions against Hamas to those of the Nazis, claiming that the only historical parallel for the current fighting was “when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.” ...
Flash Briefs
Gustavo Petro’s Anti-Israel Fantasy Has a High Price for Colombia
The Colombian president's severing of diplomatic relations with Israel will terminate a budding bilateral partnership.
Op-eds
Tyrants and expendable migrants: Dictators play with people’s lives to gain leverage
Illegal immigration through the U.S.-Mexican border is at an all-time high, straining public resources and fueling political tension in the United States. Much of what moves migrants to undertake the...
Op-eds
US Should Sanction Lebanon’s pro-Iran ‘Resistance TV’
On December 27, an Israeli missile hit a home in the Southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, killing brothers Ali and Ibrahim Bazzi and Ibrahim’s wife. Within hours, Al Manar, Hezbollah’s official media...
Op-eds
Telesur’s Pro-Iran Propaganda
Disinformation from the Maduro regime should draw just as much attention from the State Department as Russian disinformation does.
Op-eds
Hezbollah’s Terror Threat In Latin America
In the land of symmetrical war, the asymmetrical warrior is king. The U.S. and Israeli governments are rightly concerned that Hezbollah – Iran’s oldest and best-armed proxy – could open a second front in the Israel-Hamas conflict. But who says Hezbollah would limit itself to striking U.S. or Israeli targets in the Middle East?
For decades, Hezbollah has patiently built a global web of networks, engaged in illicit financial activities, and supported terrorist plots. Hezbollah and Iran have repeatedly struck at Israeli, Jewish, and other Western targets overseas. Latin America is a region of particular concern in this respect, for several reasons.
Emanuele Ottolenghi is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Op-eds
Alleged Turkish Money Launderer to Face Trial
A Utah court last week released Turkish businessman Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, whom Austria extradited last year, as he awaits trial in U.S. federal court for several money laundering schemes that allegedly...
Policy Briefs
Iran and Venezuela Deepen Their Strategic Alliance
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi just wrapped up a two-day visit to Caracas, during which he consolidated Iran’s strategic alliance with the regime of Nicolas Maduro. While talk of American imperialism...
Policy Briefs
Tehran Takes Caracas
On Monday, Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi began a five-day tour of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, three Latin American countries governed by authoritarian, anti-Western regimes. Raisi’s three predecessors...
Op-eds
Iran’s Raisi Embarks on Five-Day Tour of Latin American Countries
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi landed in Caracas on June 12, the first stop of a five-day visit to Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Accompanying Raisi is a large delegation, including the Iranian ministers...
Flash Briefs
America’s Power Competition Goes Awry in Lula’s Brazil
When the dust settles, the consequences of Lula’s approach will serve neither American interests nor Brazil’s.
Op-eds
What Is Venezuela Flying to Moscow?
Iran is a willing accomplice in the rape of Ukraine. Iranian drones have helped Russia sustain its terror attacks against Ukrainian civilian targets and infrastructure even as Russia’s arsenal became...
Op-eds
How human rights activists chased off Venezuela’s strongman
The strongman leader of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, was due to attend a heads of state summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in Buenos Aires on Monday. Maduro planned to hold important...
Op-eds
Anything goes
Extremist ideologies are proliferating
Op-eds
Time for the Biden Administration to Clip the Wings of Iran’s Propaganda Machine
On December 8, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned Al Mustafa International University in Qom, Iran, the principal institution recruiting, indoctrinating, and training foreign converts...
Op-eds
Grounded: Why Biden Must Sanction Iranian Aviation
Iran’s airlift does not rely on a massive fleet. The Biden administration’s sanctions arsenal can make a difference.