With the sudden rise of the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), a little-noted aspect is that Gen. Qasem Suleimani, the supposed strategic genius of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, has blundered disastrously. By overreaching in Iraq and Syria and triggering a violent response, Iran now faces dangerous instability on its border… اقرأ المزيد
At a farewell dinner for Israeli President Shimon Peres in Washington Wednesday night, several of the American guests appeared to approach him with tears in their eyes. This emotional display was a sign of Peres’ personal impact on the U.S.-Israel relationship, and the way his departure marks the passing of an era. Peres, at 90,… اقرأ المزيد
A glimpse of the passionate loyalty inspired by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the insurgent group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, comes in a recent video made by a 20-year-old Muslim recruit from the British city of Cardiff, Wales. “We understand no borders,” says the young man, identified… اقرأ المزيد
President Barack Obama came nearly full circle on Iraq Thursday, sending military advisers back to cope with that country’s disintegration, as U.S. officials lobbied for the replacement of a prime minister that America helped install. These were the right choices, but they were a measure of how badly U.S. policy has gone awry. Obama has… اقرأ المزيد
Let’s look at the reality on the ground in the Middle East: Iraq and Syria are effectively partitioned along sectarian lines; Lebanon and Yemen are close to fracturing; Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia survive intact, but as increasingly authoritarian states. In the current, chaotic moment, we see two postimperial systems collapsing at once: The… اقرأ المزيد
The capture Tuesday of Mosul, the hub of northern Iraq, by Al-Qaeda-linked militants is an alarm bell that violent extremists are on the rise again in the Middle East. And it’s a good time for President Barack Obama to explain more about how he plans to fight this menace without making the mistakes of the… اقرأ المزيد