Back in 1919, poet William Butler Yeats described his angst about Europe after World War I by describing a “rough beast” that might precipitate the second coming that “slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.” Last month’s MTV’s Video Music Awards…
WHEN the “Arab Spring” unexpectedly broke out late last year, Natan Sharansky waxed optimistic. Writing in the Washington Post in March, the former Soviet refusenik who ranks as Israel’s best known pro-democracy activist argued that the grassroots revolts that unseated…
In coming days, the U.S. Senate will begin its deliberations over New START, the major new arms control pact finalized by Moscow and Washington earlier this year. The outcome of that vote will have enormous ramifications for the safety and…
For those who aren’t regular watchers of Palestinian politics, this week was just like any other. For those who are, however, all eyes have been on the Sixth Fatah General Congress taking place in Bethlehem. The conclave, the first gathering…
Give Barack Obama credit for thinking big. Since taking office this past January, the president has embarked upon a fundamental reboot of American foreign policy. From semantic steps like the renaming of the War on Terror to more substantive ones—including…
These are hopeful and perilous times in Tehran. Ever since the blatant fraud of Iran’s June 12th presidential election, popular opposition to that country’s ruling clerical order has been on the rise, leading more and more observers to wonder whether…
What a difference a few days can make. Last week, ahead of Iran’s presidential elections, I wrote here that the outcome would matter little in the grand scheme of Iranian politics. I may have spoken too soon. Since Friday, that country…
Tomorrow, Iranians will go to the polls to elect a new president in what has become the most anticipated political event in that country since the Islamic Revolution three decades ago. The results, however, are already a foregone conclusion. Whoever…
Timing, they say, is everything. At the moment, no one knows that better than the EastWest Institute. On Tuesday, with much fanfare, the New York-based think tank released what it billed as the “first-ever U.S.-Russian joint threat assessment” on Iran’s…
By now, the idea that Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of international terrorism is fairly common knowledge. Even so, the State Department’s annual survey of global terrorism trends provides a useful glimpse into the breathtaking scope of Tehran’s regional…