In New York, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) conference is entering its final phase, and the ways in which the negotiations might fail are becoming clearer. A large number of nations—mainly the Middle East but also Bangladesh, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and others—are not going to get much of …
President Obama wowed his youthful audience in Israel on Thursday. Having arrived on Wednesday with a mere 10 percent approval rating, Obama clearly hoped to win Israeli hearts and minds with his almost hour-long speech. He went straight to the Israeli people with his pitch, eschewing a more traditional and …
President Obama Wednesday stated during an appearance with Israeli President Shimon Peres that “the state of Israel will have no greater friend than the United States.” In public appearances with both Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were smiles and hugs all around. But all these smiles have to …
President Obama’s car came to a halt in Israel yesterday, reportedly because it had been filled with the wrong kind of gas. “This is a metaphor for his Middle East policy—he’s been running on the wrong kind of fuel,” said Heritage expert James Phillips. The Obama Doctrine—the President’s approach to …
As the Syrian civil war escalates, it is increasingly spilling over Syria’s borders to threaten Syria’s neighbors and the long-established U.N. peacekeeping forces deployed along Syria’s border with Israel. On Wednesday, Syrian rebels captured 21 peacekeeping troops from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights near …
Israel was a conspicuous omission when the itinerary of Secretary of State John Kerry’s first trip overseas to Europe and the Middle East was announced this week. Although Kerry will visit Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates, he will not be visiting America’s most important ally in …
President Obama’s pick as the next Secretary of Defense is the wrong one. Heritage’s defense and foreign policy experts have examined the record of Chuck Hagel, the Republican former Senator from Nebraska, and concluded he simply does not have the experience and skills for the job. What’s more, his vision …
The Senate’s failure last week to advance the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel to Secretary of Defense was the right result, but for the wrong reason. Some Senators voted against Hagel as a way of pressuring the Obama Administration to answer many troubling and still outstanding questions about the …
