Iran’s best diplomat takes on US power
HUNDREDS OF DIPLOMATS from around the world converged on New York this past week for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. One had a tougher job than all the others — the world’s most challenging diplomatic assignment. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran is today’s David facing the American Goliath. In this confrontation, […]
Can new faces change Washington’s bad habits?
A PRIDE OF POLITICAL LIONS is approaching Washington. Beginning in January, the House of Representatives will count four young women of color among its members. All have crashed through daunting barriers and see themselves as representing the downtrodden. They are likely to emerge as a political force in Congress. All four of them support causes […]
Trump’s Space Force is a silly but dangerous idea
AMERICAN FORCES HAVE spent much of this century failing to achieve their goals in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Our central problem is that many people in those countries don’t like us, don’t share our goals, and either refuse to help us or take up arms to chase us out. Pesky natives have been the bane of […]
How to interfere in a foreign election
FOR ONE OF THE world’s major powers to interfere systematically in the presidential politics of another country is an act of brazen aggression. Yet it happened. Sitting in a distant capital, political leaders set out to assure that their favored candidate won an election against rivals who scared them. They succeeded.
The lesson in the ruins of Rome
FINDING THE SPOT where the most famous episode in Roman history happened is not easy. A bit of research, however, led me to a plaza where ruins have been unearthed. Tourists crowd around Trevi Fountain nearby, but when I arrived at these ruins, I was the only person gazing down at two sets of excavated steps. […]
