Among NATO’s most serious problems is Recip Erdogan, the president of Turkey. He is more than a political nuisance, because he threatens both the commitment of NATO’s members to defend each other and the Westernized composition of the nation he…
Now that our national nightmare — the perennial presidential horse-race — is interrupted, we have entered the two-year period in our four-year election cycle when we can actually deal with the realities beyond the media’s nose. There’s a lot of…
Among Donald Trump’s odd fixations are foreign strongmen. They are a reality and must be dealt with. Sometimes they can and do aid U.S. policy. But just because they are quick to toss opponents into jail doesn’t mean that they…
The Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated this evening in a terrorist attack, apparently in retaliation for Russian intervention in Syria and Aleppo. Ambassador Andrey Karlov was speaking at an art gallery in Ankara when a Turkish gunman, clad in…
I woke up in Istanbul at 4:30 a.m., seven hours in front of New York City on Nov. 9. I had long forecast an electoral college Clinton blowout. But the early numbers looked wrong for the Democrats. I went back…
Cascade, Washington Mall shooter taken into custody just now. His name is Arcan Cetin, a Turkish immigrant who had been arrested a year ago on a simple assault. He killed five people at the mall. Doesn’t appear he knew his…
The Wall Street Journal report that Russian aircraft had bombed a supposedly secret U.S.-British base on the Syrian border with Jordan last month should raise the hackles of everyone in the presidential race and Middle East policymakers everywhere. It proved,…
Reading Donald Trump’s foreign policy interview with David E. Sanger and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times did nothing to inspire my confidence in the Republican nominee. I am tempted to say that Trump’s knowledge of foreign policy is…
Reading Donald Trump’s foreign policy interview with David E. Sanger and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times did nothing to inspire my confidence in the Republican nominee. I am tempted to say that Trump’s knowledge of foreign policy is…
The coup attempt in Turkey adds only question marks to question marks in a region already short on answers. For the U.S. specifically and the West in general, its failure also foreshadows far more negative than positive future developments. Turkey is a…
