Obama, the new Wilson?

 In the Sunday Washington Post, Robert Kagan, an influential American neo-con historian,  argues that  President Obama  is “proving to be a supreme idealist in the Woodrow Wilson variety.”   
Like Wilson’s, Obama’s foreign policy increasingly seems to rest on the assumption that nations will act on the basis of what they perceive to be the goodwill, good intentions or [...]

Egyptians and “the Speech”

“Hey Rob, what do Egyptians think about Obama coming to Cairo?” 
I’ve been asked this alot recently, so I guess I owe some people a quick post.   There are two broad reactions:  one small group is excited; the larger group doesn’t care or is hostile.  And yes, before anyone gets mad,  there may be some exceptions to each rule….
1) The [...]

Where have I heard this before?

Stephen Walt at ForeignPolicy.Com makes_a_point on Afghanistan I’ve been constantly repeating:
In fact, we have only one vital national interest in Afghanistan: to prevent Afghan territory from being used as a safe haven for groups plotting attacks on American soil or on Americans abroad, as al Qaeda did prior to September 11. It might be nice to [...]

Iran vs Egypt

Yesterday, the lead op-ed in  Al-Quds Al-Arabi’s   savaged Egyptian foreign policy, in particular the recent comments of Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu Al-Ghait. 
This is a big theme that (American)  people need to be aware of:  Egypt’s role as a regional power has seriously declined.  Why is this?  The vast majority of the analysts in the Arabic press blame [...]

Arming The Lebanese Army

The status and condition of the Lebanese Armed Forces seem to be a hot topic not only in Lebanon, but also in Paris and Washington these days.  Here’s something that doesn’t happen too frequently: an article in an otherwise generally decent Lebanese_newspaper , supplanted in terms of context, accuracy (if only on use of quotation [...]