Clik here to view.
The President Defends His Iran Plan
President Obama after his speech at American University in Washington on Wednesday (Jonathan Ernst / Reuters) On Wednesday at American University, Barack Obama made the case for the Iran nuclear...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Headline Worth Study in the New York Times
Preparations for the AIPAC conference in Washington this spring (Jonathan Ernst / Reuters) I'm talking about this one, above the fold on the front page today. The sequence described in the story is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Reader’s Case Against the Iran Deal
Demonstrators in Tehran, with posters of the current and former supreme leaders (Reuters) For more than a decade, I have been arguing in our pages that the only sane way to deal with the Iranian...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Reader Condemns the Iran Deal—and Other Readers Respond
A rally against the nuclear deal with Iran in Times Square (Mike Segar / Reuters) On Monday I mentioned again that I hope the U.S. Congress does not manage to block the Iran deal. For more on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What If Barack and Bibi Are Both Right?
President Carter toasting the shah of Iran at a state dinner in Tehran on December 31, 1977, a little more than a year before the shah's overthrow. I was on this trip and was standing near the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
China’s Air Problem Is Worse Than We Thought
Reuters Over the past 10 years of living in and then writing about China, I’ve struck these big three recurring themes: That it is impressive and notable for the U.S. and China to have managed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Those Who Compare the Iran Deal to Munich Are Right—But Not in the Way They...
British prime minister Neville Chamberlain announcing the Munich agreement with Hitler's Germany, in 1938 ( Wikimedia Commons ) Let’s get back to the Iran debate. The tried-and-true analogy, for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Moment of Grace from Jimmy Carter
The three living Democratic presidents, Obama, Carter, and Clinton, with Michelle Obama at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington in 2013. (Reuters / Jason Reed) The 1970s were overall a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Views From Israel on the Iran Deal
An anti-nuclear deal tweet from the office of the prime minister of Israel, retweeted by Israeli embassies in the U.S. and elsewhere ( Office of the Prime Minister of Israel ) The lobbying against the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Normalization of Iran: Another View From Israel
A vista of Hamburg, from a German tourist-promotion site. Israeli tourism to Germany is booming; one Israeli reader explains why that matters and what it bodes for dealing with Iran. ( Germany Info...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thinking About Iran, Thinking About Israel, Thinking About America
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shaking hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Vienna in July. Chief U.S. negotiator Wendy Sherman is visible just behind Kerry. (Reuters) Over the past...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Iran Debate Rolls On, From Kazakhstan to North America
Kazakhstan has oil and gas to export, but because of sanctions on Iran it has sent its goods mainly through Russia. One of many ramifications of the Iran nuclear-agreement will be the development of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Martin O'Malley Is Right: America Should Be Taking More Syrian Refugees
A Syrian baby sleeping in Greece (Yannis Behrakis / Reuters) I haven’t been writing about Syria, either the horrific war of the past four years or the ongoing refugee crises, because it is one of many...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Just Happened in Australian Politics?
Tony Abbott, Australia's now-former prime minister (Edgar Su / Reuters) The surprising news out of Australia this morning was that Tony Abbott, the serving prime minister, had been ousted. He lost his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The West Coast Magazine World Takes A(nother) Bow
Two issues of California Sunday Magazine, and one of Pacific Standard, shown with a typical mid-Atlantic late-summer humid-and-overgrown backyard scene behind them.I’ve spent most of my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Martin O’Malley Is Right: America Should Be Taking More Syrian Refugees
A Syrian baby sleeping in Greece Yannis Behrakis / ReutersI haven’t been writing about Syria, either the horrific war of the past four years or the ongoing refugee crises, because it is one of many...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Map That Shows China's Worst Problem, and One That Shows America's
As I have mentioned over the years, most recently here, environmental sustainability in all its forms is China’s toughest challenge (according to me). The Berkeley Earth group has produced an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Just Happened in Australian Politics?
Tony Abbott, Australia's now-former prime minister Edgar Su / ReutersThe surprising news out of Australia this morning was that Tony Abbott, the serving prime minister, had been ousted. He lost his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Idiocracy: It's Not Just a Movie Any More
Because I have been wrapped up in print-magazine obligations (check your mailbox in one month, and subscribe in the meantime, including for our great new issue), I didn’t stop to mention the idiotic...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When Is It Fair to Call a Policy Position Idiotic?
Fred Hochberg, CEO of the now-defunded ExIm Bank (ExIm photo)Last night I wrote an impolite item arguing something I actually believe: that the Tea Party-led effort to defund the Export-Import Bank...
View Article