Latin America is not usually high on the list of hotspots for geopolitical analysts. Yet Hugo Chavez is threatening war against neighboring Colombia. (See the note below from a JPMorgan publication today.) Venezuelan President Chavez is America’s nemesis in the hemisphere, and Venezuela shares a long border with Colombia in the north of South America, facing […]
If you’re going to write an op-ed about how Russia has turned away from the liberalization of the 90s, perhaps it would be wise to give a reason why that happened other than “Russians fully deserve Putin’s illiberal leadership …” I mean, really, this is a shockingly anti-Russian hit piece.
Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall fell. And all was good throughout the land (not really). That it happened was a great human story—a pinnacle event of freedom (in its most sincere sense) that has brought millions of Europeans into a prosperous, liberal democratic order. The conventional wisdom, in this country at least, is that […]
1) Is Turkey leaving the West, or is media hype driving the narrative? 2) Al-Qaeda terror camps are becoming smaller and more localized, and are thus harder to hit. 3) The MRAP, seen as a key to the effort in Afghanistan, is being targeted—successfully—by the insurgency. 4) Property rights in Russia are weak.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is on the verge of resigning his post—and with him will go many top Palestinian Authority officials. While it remains to be seen just what the fallout will be, it is certain to say that this will upend the status quo in the region. Abbas, the quintessential Palestinian moderate, has gotten […]
Much news and commentary you hear about the State of Israel has to do with geopolitics and the Arab-Israeli conflict (see my colleague Ben Moscovitch’s blog on this site for a nice selection.) Settlements, will Abbas run or not, Iran’s plans to wipe Israel off the map, Israel’s thoughts about taking military action against Iran, the […]
Since the Israeli West Bank barrier went up in 2002, comparisons to the Berlin Wall have not been hard to find. Yesterday’s historic anniversary naturally invites a revisitation to the analogy. Legality is actually one of the most potent differences between the two cases. The Berlin Wall didn’t violate international law. In fact, the East […]
In the 16th century, Niccolo Machiavelli wrote: You must understand, therefore, that there are two ways of fighting: by law or by force. The first way is natural to men, and the second to beasts. But as the first way often proves inadequate one must needs have recourse to the second. So a prince must […]
Saeb Erekat, the longtime chief Palestinian negotiator, has cast doubts on the two-state solution. Erekat is, in my memory, the most senior Palestinian official to publicly argue that two states between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River are not plausible. Coming on the heels of the embarrassing failure (as of now) of the Obama administration […]
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has been very visible lately. First, she publicly expressed frustration that al-Qaeda militants have been allowed a sanctuary inside Pakistan, along the border with Afghanistan. This vocal admonition surprised many Pakistani officials, but they really shouldn’t be surprised. Pakistan continues to play a two-way game with the United States on […]
1) A photo essay from Der Spiegel: The west-east German border, then and now. 2) John Mearsheimer argues for the United States to leave Afghanistan—but that Obama won’t because of domestic political considerations. 3) Americans are overhwelmingly in favor of a ban on texting while driving (this wouldn’t be a problem if our infrastructure was […]
This RAND study finds that 20 percent of eight-year olds, and 40 percent of all twenty-year olds in Anbar province are fatherless. Moreover, half of all households have reported losing at least one family member. This is, obviously, a tragic story, but also presents a whole host of problems for Iraqi society and governance. The […]
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