I now feel as though I am in much the same position that I was in three years ago. At that time, as a result of the revolts taking place in the Arab countries, the newspapers and news programmes were awash with breathlessly-written stories about breaking events. The same situation seems to be underway at […]
Last month, I tried to show just how clueless Americans are about the Middle East; and I strongly implied that American officials’ ignorance of the area’s cultures is a strategic danger not just to the United States, but also to the countries in the region. Now, I would like to address a subset […]
I never thought that the day would come when I would call the wealthiest country in the world, and the country with the most powerful army in the world, “pitiful.” I also never thought that I would call the citizens of that country, the nation state with the best university system in the world, “clueless” […]
The Obama-Netanyahu summit was one of the most carefully choreographed “reconciliation” meetings in recent history. When it was over, a poll found that 39 percent of Israelis said that their opinion of Obama had changed for the better, and 58 percent said that they now believed that the United States would not allow Iran to […]
The final results of the US elections are now in. And, according to all the polls, the Israeli public decided that Romney should have won—even though his electoral promises about issues related to Israel did not go beyond those made by Barak Obama. Why the Israeli public reacted as it did says a great […]