Will Abbas be the final Palestinian president?
Hussein Al Sheikh may be the PA’s number two now, but it’s far from certain he can withstand the inevitable challenges that will confront his succession.
public election
How Erdoğan Is Fomenting an Anti-Western Mindset in Turkey
The president is trying to alter societal values and norms from the bottom up.
Op-eds
Iran’s Social Engineering Capabilities Mature
Facebook last week dismantled a long-running Iranian cyber operation that collected sensitive information on U.S. military personnel and employees of American defense and aerospace companies. Unlike a previous...
Policy Briefs
Palestine’s Democratic Deficit
Co-written by Mor Yahalom. Last Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority postponed&nb...
Op-eds
Supreme Leader’s Confidant Is Re-elected Parliament Speaker
Iran’s parliament re-elected Ali Larijani as parliamentary speaker on Tuesday. Larijani,...
Policy Briefs
Why Bashar al-Assad, the ‘Teflon Don’ of the Middle East, Can’t Be Touched
John Gotti may have once held the title, but the late Gambino crime family boss had nothing on the “Teflon Don” of the Middle East, Bashar Assad. Had Gotti li...
Op-eds
Turkish Grey Wolves Target ‘Chinese’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit Wednesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing came at an awkward time. So far this month, Turkish ultranation...
Op-eds
Iran, the U.N.’s New Authority On Nuclear Disarmament
With Iran pushing toward nuclear breakout ability at home, while peddling what some have dubbed “charm” abroad, there were plenty of odd moments as Iran’s President Hassan Rouha...
Op-eds
Iran’s Meaningless Presidential Elections
The Islamic Republic of Iran is holding its eleventh presidential election on Friday. It’s all very exciting — just as it was in 1979 when, right after the Iranian Revolution that bro...
Op-eds
Jeane Kirkpatrick Goes to Tahrir Square — Two starkly Different Visions of the Arab Spring
Thirty-three years ago, Commentary magazine published an article by Jeane J. Kirkpatrick that stands as one of the most influential essays in the history of American foreign policy....
Op-eds
Some Questionable State Department Actions
Prepared by staff at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies 1) Global Counterterrorism Conference Without Israel The Global Counterterrorism Forum w...
Op-eds
Ahmadinejad in Rio
It is by now a scene so familiar it’s become routine. At your expense, dear taxpayers of the planet — and especially at the expense of all you colonialist, imperialist, capitalist tax...
Op-eds
The Deceits of Seymour Hersh
Last June, the distinguished American journalist Seymour Hersh published an article in the New Yorker entitled “Iran and the Bomb: How Real Is the Nuclear Threat?” His answer...
Op-eds
Venezuela and Pakistan, Shoo-Ins For the UN Human Rights Council?
You won’t find this information posted yet on the United Nations web site, because when the UN General Assembly “elects” countries to the 47 member seats on the UN Human Rights...
Op-eds
Death by a Thousand Cuts
Summer in the eastern Mediterranean is always hot, wet, and stormy. But in Lebanon, this summer could be bad — even by last year’s standards. The political struggle that has paralyzed...
Op-eds
Ban Ki-Moon Congratulates Iranian Fox for Guarding the Hen House?
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, Iran is now offering to coordinate counter-terrorism activities for us all. At a two-day “counter-terrorism” conference just hosted...
Op-eds
Bad Faith Actor
In the pantheon of United Nations causes, Africa by many measures occupies a preeminent role. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has described “the African challenge” as “the highest...
Op-eds
The Circus Is in Tehran
Search for meaning in non-elections.
Op-eds
Anatomy of Financial Sanctions
WASHINGTON - Stuart Levey is worried. The man who served as the architect of economic sanctions against Iran for over six years during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations is not hid...
Op-eds
Sarkozy: Europe’s Proponent of Bush’s ‘Freedom Agenda’
To get a sense of how President Obama’s Libya (and Mideast) strategy is stuck in a foreign-policy rut, one only needs to look at how French president Nicolas Sarkozy seems to be the only fo...