international
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The U.S.–Iran MOU: A Lopsided Deal That Hands Tehran The Win
In my senior year of high school, I never got to sleep on weeknights until well after 11:00 P.M. The American hostages were held in Iran, and there was a new late-night news special on ABC providing not only news but also background on the growing crisis. The program would soon be named Nightline. It… Continue reading
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Salah Sarsour, Wisconsin Mosque President, Legal Permanent Resident, Must Be Released From Federal Internment
Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin stated it best when reflecting on the internment of Salah Sarsour, president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, and a legal permanent resident now held by the federal government. Our nation’s founders realized that democracy cannot exist in a nation with a government that restricts or limits the speech and expression of its… Continue reading
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Russia And China Have Plans For The Future
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed their nations’ partnership during a two-day summit. They were linked rhetorically and with broad policy goals as they will use combined energy to undermine Western institutions and values. The chemistry between those leaders was much different from how Xi and Trump interacted at… Continue reading
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What Donald Trump Got Wrong On China Trip
Leonid Brezhnev, the leader of the Soviet Union for 18 years, died on November 10, 1982, at age 75. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was asked that evening how the personal relationships between Washington and Moscow would fare following the death. He made it clear that personal relationships were not the guiding force of international relations.… Continue reading
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Story Of The Week: Fractions Widen Between UAE and Saudi Arabia
I suggest the most interesting and consequential news story this week was the growing divide between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. I noticed that national evening news broadcasts on ABC and NBC, while giving time to fluff stories and reports because they had videos of crashes and fires, could not provide viewers the… Continue reading
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Moral Leadership Needed From The Trump White House About His War In Iran
Our nation has seen more than its fair share of policy disputes, strategic missteps, and even bizarre moments of national confusion since Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025. Now, we are facing an alarming moment with the absence of moral leadership at the very top of this White House concerning the Iran war. Moral leadership… Continue reading
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Iran War: Expertise Replaced With Promotion of Opinion
I admit laughing when reading or hearing MAGA defend Donald Trump’s unnecessary Iran War by merely repeating the White House line that the conflict has been going on for 47 years. Then the defense bottoms out as they do not know what more to say. Since they mimic Trump, and he is the last person… Continue reading
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Those Who Sided With Viktor Orban Will Be Damned, Authoritarianism Is A Loser
I spent some time this afternoon upstairs looking for a column in a back issue of Foreign Affairs. I knew it contained the essence of what I wanted to stress in this column. That followed the most welcome news that Peter Magyar’s center-right Tisza party was projected to win Hungary’s parliamentary election, bringing an end… Continue reading
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Iran’s New Strength, Trump’s Weakness: “Please, Please. It’s Too Much Winning. We Can’t Take It Anymore”
My first favorite author was Allen Drury, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Advise and Consent. As a teenager, I ate his books up, thrilled by their political and international stories with a continuous batch of colorful characters. But nothing…I mean nothing…that Drury could make up in his brilliant writing comes close to a plot line… Continue reading
Caffeinated Politics 