As US Shuns Iran in Fight Against ISIS, History Repeats

by Esfandyar Batmanghelidj Last week epitomized the highs and lows of hoping for an improvement in US-Iran relations. A BBC report on Sept. 5 that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had approved Iranian cooperation with the US military in the… Continue Reading

Kristol, Nationalism, Nostalgia and World War I

by Jim Lobe Just as this week marks the 50th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, as noted Wednesday by Amb. Hunter, it also marks the centenary of the outbreak of World War I, the “Great War” that, among other things,… Continue Reading

Realism about the Obama Doctrine

by Diana L. Ohlbaum “Speak loudly and carry a small stick.” That pretty much sums up the advice provided by a steady stream of withering critics of President Obama’s foreign policy. Spurred by off-the-cuff remarks the president made at a… Continue Reading

How the U.S. Created the Afghan War — and Then Lost It

The Unreported Story of How the Haqqani Network Became America’s Greatest Enemy* by Anand Gopal It was a typical Kabul morning. Malik Ashgar Square was already bumper-to-bumper with Corolla taxis, green police jeeps, honking minivans, and angry motorcyclists. There were boys… Continue Reading

The U.S. and the Gulf: A Failure to Communicate

by Thomas W. Lippman It was like a movie in which different characters see the same events in completely different ways. At one of those Washington think-tank panel discussions the other day, senior U.S. national security and military officials insisted… Continue Reading