By Barbara Slavin The Trump administration on Monday unveiled a revised version of its travel and immigration ban that addresses some of the flaws of a blocked first attempt but will still harm US interests even if it doesn’t survive the courts. The purported aim of the executive order is “protecting the nation from foreign […]
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Trump Travel Ban 2.0: Still Harmful and Unnecessary
Posted March 6th, 2017 at 3:01 pm (UTC-5)
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Rising Xenophobia Hurts All Americans
Posted February 28th, 2017 at 4:59 pm (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin Among many disturbing crimes in recent weeks, the shooting death of an Indian émigré engineer near Kansas City on February 22 stands out as a warning about rising xenophobia in the United States Adam Purinton, 51, of Olathe, Kansas, who has been charged with the murder of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, apparently took him […]
Tags: Alok Madasani, Barbara Slavin, donald trump, Iranians, Madeleine Albright, Srinivas Kuchibholta, Steve Bannon, xenophobia Posted in Barbara Slavin
New Policy Toward North Korea Urgently Needed
Posted February 21st, 2017 at 10:51 am (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin While the Trump administration has focused on perceived threats from Muslim and Latin American immigrants, a more serious challenge for United States policymakers is North Korea’s advancing missile and nuclear programs. On February 12, the North Koreans fired what experts said was an intermediate-range ballistic missile known as the Musudan. It flew […]
Tags: Barbara Slavin, china, China coal, donald trump, H, Kim Jong Nam, Kim Jong-un, Michael Flynn, NorKor, North Jorea, R. McMaster, South Korea Posted in Barbara Slavin
Trump and More Trigger Protests Like It Was 1968
Posted February 13th, 2017 at 11:34 am (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin From Bucharest to Baghdad to Birmingham, England and its namesake in Alabama, people are filling streets, squares and town halls to demand more transparent, accountable and welcoming government. The protests have become a regular occurrence in the United States since the inauguration of President Trump on January 20. But they are spreading […]
Back to the ‘Axis of Evil’ on Iran
Posted February 7th, 2017 at 1:39 pm (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes to the White House next week, he is likely to find common ground with its new occupant on at least one topic: Iran. Tough rhetoric by the Trump administration, coupled with new sanctions over missile tests and Iran’s inclusion in a controversial travel ban, signals […]
Tags: Barbara Slavin, donald trump, Iran, Iran nuclear deal, ISIL, ISIS, islamic state, Michael Flynn Posted in Barbara Slavin
An Unwarranted Sanction Against Iran
Posted January 30th, 2017 at 1:44 pm (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin With the advent of the Trump administration, many Iran analysts feared the new president would scrap the landmark nuclear deal that curbs Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Little did we know that U.S.-Iran relations were about to be set back more dramatically as collateral damage in a counter-productive presidential […]
Tags: Barbara Slavin, Christians, donald trump, Immigration, Iran, Muslims, Refugees, terrorism Posted in Barbara Slavin
This Is What Democracy Looks Like
Posted January 23rd, 2017 at 12:37 pm (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin This analyst has been to a demonstration or two going back to the Vietnam War, when tens of thousands of people used to congregate in Washington to protest U.S. military intervention in that faraway Asian nation. Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington was of a different order of magnitude – larger by a […]
Tags: Barbara Slavin, donald trump, Michael Moore, Sean Spicer, women's march, women's march on Washington Posted in Barbara Slavin
Trump Inauguration Could Be Eclipsed by Protests, Lawsuits
Posted January 17th, 2017 at 10:09 am (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin This will be an inauguration like no other. As Donald Trump prepares to take the oath of office on Friday, the mood in Washington is expectant, anxious and defiant. A new Gallup poll shows that Trump – unlike any other president-elect in modern history – has actually lost popularity since the election. […]
Turkey Needs Solutions, Not Scapegoats
Posted January 4th, 2017 at 9:41 am (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin Turkey is accustomed to political violence. Coups and assassinations were common in the 1970s and 80s; in the 90s, a war broke out between Kurdish separatists and government forces that devastated southeastern Turkey and led to terrorism in major Turkish cities. But there is something particularly depressing and ominous about the spate […]
Tags: Andrey Karlov, Ankara, Barbara Slavin, ISIL, ISIS, islamic state, Istanbul airport attack, Kurds, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Reina nightclub attack, syria, turkey Posted in Barbara Slavin
Some Not-Worse-Case Scenarios for 2017
Posted December 27th, 2016 at 10:14 am (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin At long last, 2016 is almost behind us. For the majority of Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton and for millions beyond our borders, 2017 is filled with apprehension. But in the spirit of a new year, this analyst hopes that Donald Trump will exceed expectations and that those who opposed him […]
Tags: Barbara Slavin, china, donald trump, inauguration, israel, James Mattis, Rex Tillerson, russia, trade, Trump administration, Vladimir Putin Posted in Barbara Slavin
Massacre in Aleppo, Murder in Ankara and Berlin
Posted December 20th, 2016 at 10:17 am (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin Students of the Middle East learn quickly that in that chronically unstable part of the world, things can always get worse and frequently do. This Christmas season, as millions around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the prospects for peace on earth in the region of his birth are non-existent […]
Tags: Aleppo, Andrey Karlov, Ankara, Barbara Slavin, Berlin, Berlin attack, ISIL, ISIS, islamic state, Ryan Crocker, syria, turkey, W.B. Yeats Posted in Barbara Slavin
From Russia Without Love
Posted December 12th, 2016 at 11:47 am (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin Almost everything about this political year has shattered precedent. Still, the CIA’s conclusion that Russian government-instigated cyber warriors actively promoted Donald Trump’s victory throws our system into truly frightening, uncharted territory. It has been known for months that Russian hackers stole emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, […]
Tags: 2016 presidential election, Barbara Slavin, donald trump, email hacks, John Podesta, Michael Hayden, russia, Vladimir Putin, Wikileaks Posted in Barbara Slavin
Make Trump Inc. Great Again
Posted November 21st, 2016 at 11:06 am (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin In between Twitter outbursts at the Broadway hit Hamilton, President-elect Donald Trump has been interviewing Cabinet picks — and meeting investors in his far-flung business empire. A week after his upset win over Hillary Clinton, Trump greeted Indian partners Atul Chordia, Sagar Chordia and Kalpesh Mehta at Trump Tower in New York. […]
Tags: Barbara Slavin, donald trump, Fethullah Gulen, Michael Flynn, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, RT, russia, Russia Today, Trump Tower, turkey Posted in Barbara Slavin
Trump Transition Gets Off to Shaky Start
Posted November 15th, 2016 at 4:34 pm (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin It has only been a week since the election, but it feels like an eternity. Despite some gestures toward those who voted against him, Donald Trump appears to be having great difficulty simply putting together a team to organize the transition from the current administration. His choice of Stephen Bannon, editor of […]
Will Clinton Resist Her Inner Hawk?
Posted October 25th, 2016 at 3:14 pm (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin The Washington foreign policy establishment is salivating at the thought of a Hillary Clinton presidency, which promises to be more interventionist than Barack Obama’s administration and more open to elite views than a Donald Trump White House would be. Think tanks are churning out papers on a variety of topics and pushing them […]