Commentary / World Feb 15, 2021

Iran drops the fig leaf of its nuclear fatwa

The decree was always more political than religious - designed to provide cover for whatever nuclear course was expedient for Tehran at any given time.

Commentary / World Feb 10, 2021

Biden can break from Trump and Obama on Iran

Biden has space to pursue an Iran policy that is neither a reaction to Trump’s nor a straightforward continuation of Obama’s.

Commentary / World Dec 28, 2020

A dismal year everywhere was even worse for Iran

After a year in which the regime has failed on every other front, it will almost inevitably double down on its only other source of legitimacy: its visceral anti-Americanism.

Commentary / World Dec 23, 2020

Erdogan's political challengers are getting tougher

Neither investors nor the general public seem to be buying Erdogan’s promise of a new economic era for Turkey.

Commentary / World Nov 29, 2020

Iranian nuclear scientist killing will have fallout

The killing certainly has some of the hallmarks of a campaign of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, attributed to Israel: four were killed between 2010 and 2012.

Commentary / World Nov 23, 2020

Ethiopia’s prime minister trades his Nobel Peace Prize for civil war

We may be long past holding laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize to its lofty standards — the cruel cynicism of Henry Kissinger and open bigotry of Aung San Suu Kyi are just two instances of honorees behaving dishonorably — but Abiy Ahmed’s belly ...

Commentary / World Oct 30, 2020

Terror attacks in France demand statesmanship, not demagoguery

What leaders say at moments like these matters. And all the more so now because too many leaders have recently been unable or unwilling to say the right things.

Commentary / World Sep 1, 2020

Who says Iran is impervious to pressure?

Critics of the Trump administration’s sanctions campaign against Iran have long argued that the Islamic Republic is impervious to pressure. This claim never had a strong foundation: After all, extreme duress — prolonged diplomatic isolation, coupled with crippling economic sanctions — forced Tehran’s theocrats ...

Commentary / World Aug 9, 2020

Beirut explosions create a dilemma for the world

Governments everywhere want to help the Lebanese, but the country's politicians need to recover their senses to make sure assistance is forthcoming.

Commentary / World Jul 14, 2020

Erdogan is erasing Ataturk’s stamp on Turkey

The conversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque is the culmination of the president’s lifelong political project.