Global Politics

“Hello, happy holidays!” In mid-March? Strolling down the cobble stone streets that skirt the Plaza of the Cathedral and the Plaza de Armas, this phrase is ubiquitous. As any visitor of Old Havana can attest, Cubans often hurl this at passing tourists irrespective of the season. To U.S. citizens, the moment may falsely present itself […]

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Incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has won re-election. Under immense pressure, Netanyahu displayed his winner mentality and insatiable desire to govern Israel by seemingly pulling out all the stops to assure another Likud victory, but at what cost? First there was Netanyahu’s Republican-hosted speech to U.S. Congress where his apparent aim was to display […]

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The European Union (EU) and the United States (U.S.) have been negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) since 2013. Intended to revive the transatlantic economies by eliminating tariffs and accepting various degrees of regulatory convergence or mutual recognition across a wide range of sectors, and solidify EU-U.S. relations, it now appears to be […]

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This article was first published in The Huffington Post on 3rd March 2015. One of the defining precepts of the American Republic from its earliest days to today has been that the president of the United States represents the country in its dealings with the world. It is a view which the Supreme Court unambiguously […]

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It can be difficult to stay optimistic about peace while an atmosphere of gloom permeates the contemporary Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria. It is nearly impossible to watch the news without being inundated by provocative visuals of ISIS’s atavistic executions of U.S. journalists and perplexed by ISIS’s seemingly uncanny ability to recruit Westerners. […]

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Last year I criticized some of the hawk-like voices, including that of David Brooks of the NYT, which were calling for Barack Obama to increase the fear factor in dealing with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine. I should point out that I am decidedly not a fan of Putin, whose actions in Crimea and Ukraine have been reprehensible. However, we need […]

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Ronald Reagan did not bring the Berlin Wall down, not even close. How do I know? Because I was there. I remember his speech at the wall, right in front of the Brandenburg Gate. It was June 12, 1987 and despite the media reports to the contrary there were relatively few in attendance. We stood alone in […]

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The destruction wrought, hatred spread, and lives lost on and after 9/11 are travesties. But the War on Terror has created another immediate problem: financial calamity. Two wars—costing U.S. taxpayers well into the trillions of dollars—have surely had an impact on reducing the threat of terrorism around the world. But outside of specific military efforts, […]

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The futility and danger of nuclear weapons in the post-9/11 world is indisputable The 2003 Oscar-Winning documentary The Fog of War, containing Robert McNamara’s post-Vietnam mea culpa, also highlighted one of the former US Defence Secretary’s greatest concerns – nuclear weapons. “The indefinite combination of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will destroy nations,” McNamara maintained. […]

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How religion, culture and crude politics sustain America’s support for the Jewish state. We Americans are the peculiar, chosen people ─ the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the world. Herman Melville, 1850 Anyone taking even a passing interest in Middle East politics over the past year might be […]

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