Tensions are rising in the Middle East generally and especially in the Gulf. The Trump Administration decision to end the waivers for eight countries permitted to buy Iranian oil is, not surprisingly, having a dramatic effect on the Iranian economy. With Iranian exports of oil expected to drop...
The United States and Saudi Arabia have had a relationship with ups and downs over the last eight decades. Beginning with the meeting between President Franklyn Roosevelt and the Saudi King, Ibn Saud, a relationship was forged that reflected an understanding of our common interests. ...
The Trump Administration continues to say that it intends to come out with its peace plan soon, presumably after the April 9th Israeli election. How soon may depend on the outcome of the election. I say that because while the Administration has held discussions with Prime Minister Netanyahu on...
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One official I met in travelling in the Middle East said, “There are two projects in the Middle East. One is Turkey, Qatar, and Iran and the other is Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Israel. And, the United States should be supporting the latter group because they are committe...
Nature abhors a vacuum. So does the world of power politics. It should come as no surprise that after President Trump declared he would be withdrawing US forces from Syria, the rush to fill the vacuum has heated up even before the US is out. It is not only that Daesh is trying to show they are...
No one who ever assumed the presidency was more prepared for the job than George H.W. Bush. He had been the head of our mission to China, ambassador to the United Nations, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and then Vice President. Prior to his service in the executive branch of...
For most policy-makers and pundits, the Middle East has long been a tinderbox. American presidents in the past feared a US-Soviet confrontation in the event of Arab-Israeli wars. Richard Nixon, at the outset of his presidency, said a major effort was needed to prevent a war. In no small part,...
Russia has made itself the arbiter of events in Syria. Its military intervention and use of intensive bombing allowed it to change the balance of forces on the ground and save the Assad regime. But the Assad regime and its Iranian patron are no prize. True, the Iranians aim to remove all...
The Trump Administration has now snapped back the first round of sanctions on Iran. Cars, planes, precious metals and currency are effected. The harsher sanctions designed to preclude the buying of Iranian oil won’t be re-imposed until November 4th. The impact of both the first and second round...
