The latest edition of the Cutting Through newsletter features a look at Jared Kushner’s trip this week to the Gulf. What could possibly go wrong? Also, get a glimpse of the new book, Except for Palestine, by myself and Marc Lamont Hill due out in Feb 2021 You can sign up for the newsletter by clicking here and please tell your friends and colleagues to do the same. You’ll get…
In the latest episode of the ReThinking Foreign Policy Podcast, I spend some time discussing the murder of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and some of the responses to it. The main story is a look at Joe Biden’s initial picks for his cabinet and lead administrative staff. Some of my views on that may surprise some of my listeners. Finally, I look at Mike Pompeo’s efforts to eliminate any possibility…
While touting the economic benefits he expects to emerge from the “Abraham Accords” and similar agreements for normalization that Israel has signed with several Arab states, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “Everybody who joined the Abraham Accords will see the benefits for their own people. I am highly confident that many, many more nations will choose to do the right thing and recognize Israel as the rightful homeland of…
The murder of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has not gotten nearly the condemnation it deserves. While many prominent activists who lead the call for diplomacy with Iran have struck the appropriately harsh tone this action merits, too few outside of those circles are treating this with the gravity it merits. One exception was Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) who tweeted “If the primary purpose of the killing of Mr. Fakhrizadeh…
Published today at Responsible Statecraft is my review of Prof Jerome Slater’s new book, Mythologies Without End: The U.S., Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1917-2020. Slater goes through a huge list of myths that make up so much of the mass understanding of the conflict over Palestine and Israel. Just the volume of the topics he covers is staggering. To Slater’s great credit, he manages to take on that long list…
The biggest foreign policy cabinet appointment remaining to President-elect Joe Biden is the Secretary of Defense. It has been widely speculated that Michele Flournoy is the frontrunner for that position, and she has quickly become a polarizing figure among Democrats. I have already said that I find the debate over Flournoy a bit misguided. On matters of policy she is far too hawkish for my tastes, and I largely agree…
