Obama’s made a lot of Faustian bargains over the last seven years. But given his likely successors, what we got over the last two terms may be as good as it gets.
Obama: The Fairy-Tale President?
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diplomacy
How U.S. Interventions Dismembered the Middle East
Despite everything, hawks are still pushing President Obama to send ground troops to Syria. He would be wise to reject their advice.
So Why Did Turkey Shoot Down That Russian Plane?
Powerful forces are maneuvering to torpedo any Syrian peace process that could leave room for Bashar al-Assad.
Syria: Mission Possible
There’s no grand, exciting solution to the war in Syria. It’s going to take an endless parade of meetings where people sit and talk. And talk. And talk.
Military Intervention in Syria Is the Problem, Not the Solution
From Paris to Beirut, the Islamic State’s latest atrocities are a calculated effort to bring the war in Syria home to the countries participating in it.
The View from 2050
“Back in my youth, we imagined that lumbering dinosaurs like Russia and China and the European Union would endure regardless of the global convulsions taking place around them.”
The Saudis Are Stumbling. They May Take the Middle East with Them.
America’s leading Sunni ally is proving how easily hubris, delusion, and old-fashioned ineptitude can trump even bottomless wealth.
The Schrodinger Solution for Syria
The only sensible solution to the Syrian crisis is a quantum one in which Bashar al-Assad is simultaneously there and not there.
Hillary Clinton Hasn’t Learned a Thing from Iraq
The former secretary of state could shatter the glass ceiling for women, but she’d leave the old boys’ military-industrial complex intact.
Turkey’s President Gets His Majority — at a Terrible Price
To reverse his fortune at the polls, Erdogan reignited Turkey’s war with the Kurds, stood silent while mobs attacked his opponents, and unilaterally altered the constitutional role of his office.