The failure to hold Egypt is cataclysmic for a movement which feeds off its own success. The shattered sense of Muslim Brotherhood invincibility and inevitability poses a major problem for continued Islamist growth and popular support. The invincible strong horse just broke a leg. Continue reading
American Foreign Policy
The Liberal Impulse, Iran, and The Great Moderate Hope
Iran’s new president, Hassan Rohani, is just the latest brutal, dangerous leader inexplicably given the benefit of the doubt by so many liberal defenders of human rights, though no real doubt of his nature exists. Why? Continue reading
What Everyone “Knows”–Solving The Israeli-Palestinian Dispute
This column was originally published in American Thinker.
Preview: Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines, absent major changes, is arguably the single most counterproductive act imaginable for long-lasting peace. There is no greater obstacle to peace than the perpetual temptation to launch another war against Israel from such lopsided lines.
An entire country, nine miles wide? A bicycle could easily cross it in 30 minutes — and a rocket in a matter of seconds. Nine miles is less than the distance from Barack Obama’s Chicago home to Wrigley Field. It’s the distance from New York’s George Washington Bridge to the Holland Tunnel. It’s 1½ times around the Central Park loop.
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Abe interviewed on the Andrea Tantaros Show May 6, 2013
Stop Blaming Israel And America For Fayyad’s Fall
This column was originally published in The Daily Beast.
Popular as he was in international aid circles and New York Times (and Daily Beast) op-eds—and even among Israelis—Fayyad had no democratic Palestinian constituency to speak of. As Archie Bunker once said of then-President Gerald Ford, “He’s doing a great job for a guy nobody voted for.”
Who lost Salam Fayyad? The resignation-dismissal of the respected Palestinian Prime Minister has provoked plenty of finger-pointing. Continue reading
Kerry Squanders Obama’s Good Work In Israel
This piece was originally published in The Daily Beast.
President Obama said all the right things in his Middle East visit; John Kerry has quickly undone his good work. Continue reading
Neocons, Realists…Now Meet Obama’s Foreign Policy Surrealists
This column was originally published in The Times of Israel.
How else does one describe Kerry, Brennan and Hagel, who so breezily substitute a wishful alternate reality for the obvious, menacing threats to America and the West? Foreign policy is easy once one imagines away the threats. Unfortunately, these surrealists are taking charge of foreign policy and defense of America, not of Fantasy Island.
For some time, American foreign policy has been dominated by two camps. The neoconservatives advocate an idealistic, assertive promotion of liberty, democracy and American interests, including through military means. They are opposed by the self-described “realists” who advocate a pragmatic, realpolitik approach, focusing on power and material considerations.
The realists criticize the neocons for dreaming too big and overextending American power. The neocons criticize the realists for being amoral, disloyal to allies and Machiavellian. Both see the dangers facing America and the world with clear vision; they disagree in their approach to addressing those challenges.
So, where on the spectrum does one place President Obama’s new foreign policy team? Continue reading
From Under the Bus: A Response to Efraim Halevy and the NYTimes
This column was originally published in The Times of Israel
Although President Obama has his own record — and what a record it is — regarding Israel, Halvey has nary a word to say about it. Furthermore, Governor Mitt Romney has a sterling record of support for Israel, and a staunchly pro-Israel foreign policy team; yet Halevy deems this unworthy of comment. What kind of analysis of the election ignores entirely any analysis of the actual candidates or their records?
Efraim Halevy, the former director of Israel’s Mossad, has penned a most peculiar column published in The New York Times. Halevy maintains that “no Democratic president has ever strong-armed Israel on any key national security issue,” and that Republican presidents were the ones who have thrown Israel “under the bus.”
Halevy used to be a serious man. But his unserious analysis is as incomplete as it is irrelevant. In fact, it amounts to historical malpractice. Continue reading
למי אובמה טוב? [Hebrew version of “Are You Better Off Today Than You Were Four Years Ago? Yes!”]
This column originally was published in Ha’aretz
למרבה הצער התשובה לשאלה לא תמיד שלילית. ישנם רבים שבשבילם כהונתו של אובמה הביאה שגשוג ופריחה. הנה רשימה חלקית של המרוויחים הגדולים שהיו עונים על השאלה “האם מצבכם היום טוב יותר?” בכן מהדהד.
אז הנה אנחנו, בתום סדרת העימותים בבחירות לנשיא ארה”ב. מאז שאל רונלד רייגן שאלה פשוטה ויעילה את הבוחרים – “האם מצבך היום טוב יותר משהיה לפני ארבע שנים?” – מנסים מועמדים חדשים לנשיאות לשחזר את ההצלחה הזאת. במערכת הבחירות הנוכחית, כאשר הנשיא ברק אובמה מציג כלכלה אמריקאית מקרטעת, אחוזי אבטלה גבוהים ושיא בגירעון הלאומי, מיט רומני יכול להניח כי שאלה זו תעורר מחשבה בקרב הבוחרים. Continue reading
Waiting for Obama. And Waiting. And Waiting…
If Obama has been so heavy-handed in dealing with Israel up until now, while Israel still ostensibly maintains the ability to cripple Iran’s nuclear development, just imagine the concessions he’ll demand from Israel as the price of American action when he alone holds Israel’s security in his hands.
Speculation simmers as to how and when Israel may launch a preemptive attack against Iran’s nuclear-genocide facilities. But as Iran races toward nuclear capability, a couple of things are becoming clear: first, whatever else Israel may have up its resourceful sleeve, the window in which Israel by itself is capable of inflicting serious damage in conventional air strikes is closing fast; and second, once that window closes, relying on a second-term Obama administration to take out Iranian nukes would be a grave mistake for Israel.
Another country heard from: Abe Katsman weighs in 