US Opinion and Commentary

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Are There Really Only Two Options on Iran?

Posted July 29th, 2015 at 9:30 am (UTC-4)
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Plenty of conservatives have proposed alternatives to Obama’s Iran deal — and not just war.

Turkey Grants Access for US Warplanes as Syrian War Escalates

Posted July 28th, 2015 at 5:53 pm (UTC-4)
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By Barbara Slavin After four years of trying to avoid major entanglement in Syria’s multisided civil war, the Obama administration is being pulled deeper into the fight to stem the advances of the group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS). Turkey’s decision at long last to allow the U.S. to fly armed drones and […]

Obama Marks Diplomatic Milestones with Iran, Cuba

Posted July 21st, 2015 at 12:25 pm (UTC-4)
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By Barbara Slavin Two milestones occurred in U.S. foreign policy Monday that will cement President Barack Obama’s legacy and put the United States back in step with the vast majority of international opinion. At the State Department, the flag of Cuba was quietly inserted between Croatia and the Czech Republic as the U.S. and the […]

Iran Deal an Inflection Point for the Middle East

Posted July 14th, 2015 at 4:08 pm (UTC-4)
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By Barbara Slavin Combing through the fine print of 159 pages, it is easy to see the landmark nuclear agreement   reached early Tuesday between Iran and the international community as transactional, not transformational. In return for relief from crushing economic sanctions, Iran has pledged to restrict the most worrisome aspects of its nuclear program for […]

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Why the Iran Endgame is So Tortuous

Posted July 9th, 2015 at 2:39 pm (UTC-4)
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By Barbara Slavin Successful diplomacy requires an astute mix of psychology and substance. The past few days of Iran nuclear negotiations have featured plenty of both, with long sessions devoted to arcane technical issues interrupted by raised voices and threats to walk away rather than accept an agreement that does not meet respective bottom lines. […]

The U.S. Needs to Keep Troops in Afghanistan

Posted July 8th, 2015 at 12:47 pm (UTC-4)
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We went to Afghanistan for a compelling reason: to ensure that Afghanistan never again served as a sanctuary for al-Qaeda, as it did when the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were planned there under the Taliban. The importance of that mission continues.

End Game for Iran Nuclear Negotiations

Posted June 26th, 2015 at 3:35 pm (UTC-4)
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By Barbara Slavin With the arrival of Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, in Vienna Friday, the climax to nearly two years of intensive negotiations is at hand. Opponents and advocates of a long-term nuclear agreement with Iran are marshaling their best arguments in an effort to influence the talks […]

Egypt has Become a “Republic of Fear”

Posted June 17th, 2015 at 4:25 pm (UTC-4)
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By Barbara Slavin The Middle East is facing no shortage of crises, but more attention should be paid to one that is getting comparatively little notice in the U.S.: the human rights catastrophe unfolding in the Arab world’s most populous nation. Political repression in Egypt under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is now […]

Black Like Who? Rachel Dolezal’s Harmful Masquerade

Posted June 17th, 2015 at 10:24 am (UTC-4)
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“I identify as black,” Ms. Dolezal told Matt Lauer on the “Today” show this morning. That may be. But actual black people, like me, don’t have the option of choosing.

Rachel Dolezal Has a Right to Be Black

Posted June 16th, 2015 at 9:36 am (UTC-4)
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On Monday, Rachel Dolezal, the head of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP, resigned in shame because she had posed as a black woman even though she is biologically white.

4 Lessons from Ebola Wars

Posted June 10th, 2015 at 10:16 am (UTC-4)
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If impoverished countries have no health infrastructure, contagious diseases take hold, as Ebola did, and grow into epidemics that can threaten the world.

A Victory for Democracy in Turkey

Posted June 8th, 2015 at 1:04 pm (UTC-4)
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By Barbara Slavin His name was not on the ballot. But Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Turkey were all about President Recep Tayib Erdogan and the results revealed growing disenchantment with his authoritarian, divisive rule. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its majority in parliament and with it, Erdogan’s bid to revise the constitution to […]

The Right Way to Bring Peace to the Middle East

Posted June 8th, 2015 at 10:46 am (UTC-4)
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It is time now to guide the parties to thinking about alternatives—and to do so without hurting each other. Outsiders—most of all the United States—have neither the imagination nor the will to do this themselves.

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For Obama, No Middle Ground in the Mideast

Posted June 8th, 2015 at 8:42 am (UTC-4)
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Glimmer of Hope for Yemen, Gloom Elsewhere in the Middle East

Posted June 5th, 2015 at 2:28 pm (UTC-4)
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As proposed peace talks on Yemen raises optimism while prospects for diplomatic progress elsewhere in the Middle East is dimmer.