Essays

President Trump has emphasized how peaceful the world was during his first administration compared with the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East that characterized Biden’s presidency. Trump aspires to end the ongoing wars and restore international peace.  We should also distinguish between two kinds of war and peace – liberal and illiberal. It’s possible […]

For decades, Argentina has been a cautionary tale of a once prosperous nation undergoing slow multi-decade collapse, proof of what happens when a society persistently ignores all the warning signs of prolonged mismanagement. In November 2023, Argentina’s voters broke with the past and elected Javier Milei, an economist with a wild haircut, the rhetorical style […]

Following the collapse of the Asad regime in December, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) moved to take over the highest peak of Mount Hermon across its border with Syria. Israel will remain there indefinitely, stated Minister of Defense Israel Katz recently. The IDF has long-term plans for Syria, and the expectation is that the current […]

President Donald Trump has enhanced his reputation for unpredictability in foreign policy with his novel suggestion, at a joint press conference with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the people currently living in the Gaza Strip be evacuated and that the United States assume control of that territory and rebuild it. The president is surely […]

Trump’s initial foreign policy moves are producing results. Venezuela and Colombia agreed to accept the return of their citizens who entered America illegally. Mexico is sending 10,000 soldiers to its border with the US border to staunch the flow of migrants and drugs. Canada wants to negotiate, urgently. Panama agreed not to renew its infrastructure borrowing […]

On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. It was not a Machtergreifung, or seizure of power. Instead, Hitler was installed in office at the behest of a cabal led by Franz von Papen, the head of the Catholic Center Party. Papen believed that he could manipulate the Nazi leader for his own […]

The Islamist terrorist armies – Hamas, Hizbullah, Ansarallah (the Houthis) – and their backers are not able to win wars against the US allies in the Middle East. But they are able to win information campaigns. In so doing, they can influence and prepare Middle Eastern publics for future rounds of conflict. The Arabic media […]

Post-war Ukraine will offer enormous commercial opportunities and powerful people-to-people connections. American businesses and research institutions will benefit from a rich pool of knowledge and skilled workers. This upside potential awaits a Trump administration seeking a  conclusion to the war now entering its third year. Ukraine’s policymakers will face an immediate postwar economic challenge: finding […]

Pakistan’s nuclear rivalry with India began in earnest in May 1998, when Pakistan conducted five underground nuclear explosions. Since then, the two South Asian powers have further developed their nuclear arsenals, building and testing air, sea and land-launched missiles that can reach every corner of the other country. India holds an advantage in long-range ballistic […]

One afternoon this winter, at a cafe in central Tel Aviv, I happened to overhear a discussion of politics at a nearby table of older men, convened in their own “parliament.” After cursing both the government’s politicians and the inept opposition, several spoke in praise of Avigdor Lieberman, the former political outsider who speaks Hebrew […]

Jews have co-existed, cooperated, competed and sometimes fought with other peoples and religions over thousands of years. The phenomenon of Jewish traitors, one result of these interactions, is well studied in Jewish tradition from antiquity to the present day. Some may find the phenomenon perplexing. For instance President Trump, during the recent presidential campaign, commented […]

This week’s release of three Israeli female hostages and 900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, primarily women and children, is the first step in what is expected to be a long process of bringing home Israel’s hostages and ending the war with Hamas. The agreement provides for three phases, the first two of which involve more […]