Tillerson’s open-ended Syria war proves US is stuck in Mideast quicksand
When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced last week that American troops would remain in Syria indefinitely, he sounded much like the legendary nation-grabber Theodore Roosevelt. “We have hoisted our flag, and it is not fashioned of the stuff which can be quickly hauled down,” Roosevelt declared during debate over the Philippine War more than a century ago. “There must […]
Not all atrocities are genocide
PERSECUTION OF THE Rohingya, the Muslim minority in Myanmar, has reached horrific levels. The government wants to push all of them out of their homeland. To encourage them to leave, it sends soldiers to burn their villages. Hundreds of thousands have reportedly been displaced. Hundreds have been killed. It is one of the great tragedies now […]
Don’t get too excited about the protests in Iran
WHENEVER TROUBLE breaks out in Iran, adrenaline rushes through Washington. Hearts pound excitedly at the Pentagon, the CIA, the White House, and Congress. In recent weeks, reports of street protests in several Iranian cities have triggered this Pavlovian response. Once again, however, Americans who have spent decades hoping for an explosion in Iran are disappointed. “Regime […]
