US Opinion and Commentary

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After ISIS: A New ISIS

Posted September 20th, 2016 at 2:40 pm (UTC-4)
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Without its strongholds in Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq, ISIS will not disappear but will splinter into territorial and terrorist offshoots. ISIS pockets could either regroup in unstable areas of the region, as has already been demonstrated in Libya, or stir trouble in places with symbolic resonance, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Extras: Libya and Democracy

Posted April 13th, 2016 at 4:58 pm (UTC-4)
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Little by little, Libya’s local municipalities are building democratic institutions five years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime

Will Israel Reach Age 100

Posted April 12th, 2016 at 4:18 pm (UTC-4)
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The region in which Israel lives is melting down at a rate no one would have anticipated….if there are any state disappearing acts, these may be on the Arab side….even with all of their problems, the region’s three non-Arab states –Israel, Turkey, and Iran — are probably the most highly functioning polities in the region.

Bystanders to Genocide

Posted February 18th, 2016 at 11:55 am (UTC-4)
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Just five years ago next month, President Obama proclaimed a “responsibility to act” when American “interests and values are at stake”…Within days, a no-fly zone was established over Libya…Why didn’t Mr. Obama apply the “responsibility to act” to end the Assad regime’s threat to “our common humanity and our common security”?

The Unsexy Truth About Why the Arab Spring Failed

Posted January 28th, 2016 at 10:01 am (UTC-4)
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The truth is that … the real story of the Arab Spring wasn’t one about individual people being heroic or wicked. Rather, it was a less cinematic — but far more important — story about the dangers of brittle dictatorships and weak state institutions.

ISIS the Peacemaker

Posted December 18th, 2015 at 11:33 am (UTC-4)
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A lot of priorities are being reordered in the Middle East and North Africa now, thanks to the new threats that have emerged over the past year. This could, unexpectedly, lead to some ongoing problems being resolved

Still Waiting for the Truth

Posted October 23rd, 2015 at 10:46 am (UTC-4)
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[Charles] Woods is the father of Tyrone Woods, a retired Navy Seal killed in the attacks on Benghazi on September 11, 2012. Shortly before the hearing began, I asked him what he hoped to learn from the hearing. “The truth, hopefully,” he said, not sounding hopeful at all.

Benghazi Panel Asks All the Wrong Things

Posted October 23rd, 2015 at 9:34 am (UTC-4)
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Congress should be asking: What is being done to bring to justice the terrorists responsible for the Benghazi tragedy? …. What, if any, U.S. diplomatic outposts remain vulnerable to attack?

Magical Thinking on Migrants

Posted May 11th, 2015 at 2:46 pm (UTC-4)
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A far better (and obvious) way to put the smugglers out of business is to make migration from Libya to Europe safe and legal.