HERZLIYA, ISRAEL. Emergence of a nuclear Iran; turmoil in Egypt and destabilization of secular, pro-Western Middle Eastern states; blurring of the lines between unconventional, conventional, and low-intensity conflicts; explosion of information challenges in and around the battlefields—all of these concerns will increasingly challenge U.S. and regional policymakers and military commanders …
Two years of President Barak Obama’s Middle Eastern foreign policy, and especially its handling of the Egyptian revolution, earned poor marks at Israel’s flagship national security event, the Herzliya Conference. The prestigious conference attracted NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, U.K. Defense Minister Liam Fox, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander …
The announcement last week by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s government that Argentina intends to repay nearly $9 billion in official sovereign debt—a higher figure than it had said previously that it owed—to other member nations in the Paris Club could be seen as a step forward. But apparently it …
History is not a strong point of this Administration. Last month it was President Obama declaring another “sputnik moment” for America–only to rattle off a list of big government ideas completely at odds with how Eisenhower responded to Sputnik. Yesterday, it was White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs delivering another …
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced on Tuesday night that he would not run for re-election in September in a last-ditch effort to placate the opposition. Speaking after massive protests paralyzed Cairo and other major cities for the eighth straight day, the embattled president stated: “My first responsibility is providing security …
Cairo was flooded with protesters for the seventh day on Monday, as opposition leaders promised that Tuesday would see a “march of a million” aimed at toppling the besieged Mubarak regime. Significantly, a spokesman for Egypt’s military noted that the army recognized “the legitimacy of the people’s demands” and promised …
From the outset of the Obama presidency and the emergence of the Obama Doctrine, the similarities between this Administration and that of Jimmy Carter have been striking. Like Obama, Carter trumpeted soft power and international institutions as the means to solve the most perplexing foreign policy problems. The programs of …
The Middle East was meant to be the crowning achievement of the Obama Doctrine. Once in the White House, President Obama focused laser-like on a “charm offensive” with Iran. When voices rose against the regime in Tehran in the wake of a disputed national election, Obama offered virtually no support …
Iranian political dissidents are notorious for their bitter factions and for not being able to work together—probably the single biggest cultural asset the Islamic Republic regime has. However, the Iran Democratic Transition Conference showed Iranians finding unity on a common purpose, bringing democracy to their home country where the longing …
