How Middle East Outlets Reframe the News To Fit Their Narrative
Changing phrases to be for or against Israel is part of the job.
Middle East
Biden's Foreign Policy Is Adrift
His State of the Union address sketched a foreign policy that is reckless on some points, relatively restrained on others, and utterly uninterested in any real resolution to America’s lingering military entanglements.
America's Loose Ends in the Middle East
They say the U.S. is pivoting to other conflicts, but the Pentagon hasn't exactly left the Middle East and North Africa behind.
Bernie Sanders Abandons Plan To Force Vote on Yemen War
Faced with White House opposition, Sanders withdrew a resolution that would've challenged U.S. involvement in the Yemeni Civil War.
Conservative Cancel Culture Comes to Kurdistan
Religious Kurds used social media to shut down a rap concert—and they're swinging their weight around politics, too.
Black Adam Is a Dreary Superhero Slugfest
The new DC Comics-based film wants to critique the superhero status quo. Instead, it ends up supporting it.
Biden Can't Have It Both Ways on Drone Strikes
If the combat mission is over in the Middle East, Biden should follow—and make permanent—more cautious drone guidelines.
A Year After the U.S. Withdrawal, Getting Out of Afghanistan Was Still the Right Call
Biden brought an unwinnable war to an end. But the lessons learned are only as valuable as the U.S. government’s willingness to put them to good use.
The U.S. Says the UAE Has 'Significant Human Rights Issues.' They Might Enter a Defense Agreement Anyway.
The Biden administration is reportedly considering a security agreement that would further intertwine the U.S. with an authoritarian, untrustworthy regime.
Biden Told Congress U.S. Troops Are Fighting in the Middle East. Now He Says They Aren't.
He claims he'll be "the first president to visit the Middle East since 9/11 without U.S. troops engaged in a combat mission there." But that's not true.
Biden's Middle East Trip Pits Human Rights Against Realpolitik
U.S. officials want to reset relations with Saudi Arabia and Israel amid rising gas prices and new security challenges
Destroying Islamic Fundamentalism With Books
Ideas Beyond Borders is bringing ideas about pluralism, civil liberties, and critical thinking to hotbeds of Islamic extremism.
U.S. Drone Strikes Plunge Under Biden
But those numbers don’t include Afghanistan, and that’s a problem.
Americans Cheer Afghan Departure, But Criticize Chaotic Management
Shameful scenes like those in Kabul don’t have to happen if we avoid military interventions.
Nothing Was Gained From 20 Years in Afghanistan
Why did it take presidents so long to realize this?
After 18 Disastrous Years, the U.S. Should Withdraw All Troops From Iraq
I witnessed firsthand how U.S. actions that favored one group inevitably angered another, which is why the war is an endless game of whack-a-mole.
Withdrawing From Afghanistan Is Still the Right Thing To Do
Sen. Lindsey Graham says it would be Biden's "biggest mistake yet," but the U.S. troop departure is long overdue.
Does America Need To Be Involved in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?
Neither side needs military aid funded by U.S. taxpayers.
How the U.S. Covered Up the Murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Oscar-winning filmmaker Bryan Fogel fought Saudi censorship to make his new documentary, The Dissident.
How to Stop America's 'Endless Wars'
The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft is promoting a more restrained foreign policy from inside the Beltway. But will the Biden administration listen?
Don't Sell Weapons to the UAE
Selling weapons to the UAE would stamp brutality and extremism abroad with American approval.
The Iranian Coup that Led to 67 Years of Reckless Intervention
The documentary Coup 53 explores how a seemingly easy regime change wrecked U.S. foreign policy for decades.
The Israeli-Arab Extraterrestrial Accords
Israel and the United Arab Emirates pledge to cooperate in space, potentially paving the way for a joint mission to the Moon or beyond.
GOP Hawks Are Turning Out for Biden
Exiled from the Republican Party, some Bush-era Republicans are now backing Joe Biden. Colin Powell endorsed him on Tuesday night.
The UAE–Israel Agreement Is a Step Toward Peaceful Relations
Palestinians still get overlooked, but the deal offers an opportunity to ease tensions.
Trump's Failed Promise To Stop America's 'Endless Wars'
"The best aspect of the Trump foreign policy is that he has revealed the mind of the foreign policy establishment," says historian Thaddeus Russell. "The worst part... he's a mass murderer just like the rest of them."
Christopher Preble Says Killing Soleimani Didn't Make America Safer
"Does this advance American safety and security? Does it make Americans freer and more prosperous? The answer is no."
A Kurdish Experiment in Decentralized Governance
The Kurds of Northern Syria are trying something different, for better or worse.
Iran's Theocracy Will Collapse Because of People Like Kimia Alizadeh
The nation's only female Olympic medalist says she has permanently left the Islamic Republic due to the oppression of women.
If Iran Shot Down the Ukraine Jet, the U.S. Government Deserves a Little Blame
A smart foreign policy includes the consideration of unintended consequences.
Young Americans Are Right to Fear a Renewed Draft
It's a good time for those potentially on the receiving end of a draft notice to give some thought to how they might respond or resist.
Is Trump Winning the Middle East or Doubling Down on Previous Failures?
The Cato Institute's Christopher A. Preble lays out a uniquely libertarian approach to Iran, Iraq, and elsewhere.
Iran's Foreign Minister: 'We Do Not Seek Escalation or War'
Plus: member of Congress say #NoWarWithIran, a Ukrainian plane crashed in Tehran, and more...
Iranian Missiles Rain on Bases in Iraq
Tehran's response to the killing of Iranian military chieftain Qassem Soleimani threatens a deeper war.
Trump Wants to Target Iranian Cultural Sites, Says His Tweets Shall Serve as Notice to Congress
Plus: the never-quite-there Klobuchar Moment, how Fox News learned to love the deep state, and more...
Rep. Dan Crenshaw Claims We Have a 'Very Cost-Effective, Small Footprint' in the Middle East
He's wrong on both counts.
Trump Wishes Russia Luck in Syria as U.S. Bombs Its Own Bases and Erdogan Scoffs at Trump's Attempt to Make a Deal
Plus: U.K. drops porn age-verification plans, Congress grills tech leaders again, D.C. to hear testimony on prostitution decriminalizion, and more...
Tulsi Gabbard Called Out Mainstream Media, Both Parties, Democratic Candidates for Supporting Disastrous Regime Change in the Middle East
"As president I will end these regime change wars."
Trump Changes His Mind About Turkey and Hopes Steel Tariffs Will Stop the Slaughter
Plus: Snowden warns about encryption threats, Libertarians fight for ballot access, and more...
ABC News Used Footage From a Kentucky Gun Show and Said It Was Syrian Warfare
Trust in the media is at historic lows.
Is Everyone Wrong About NBA/China/Hong Kong Except South Park and…Ted Cruz?
Nah, the senator's still wrong about Internet free speech, argue the editors on the Reason Roundtable podcast.
Bringing Them Home? Trump Commits 1,800 More Troops to the Middle East
If Trump wants credit for ending wars in the Middle East, he'll have to actually reduce the number of Americans deployed there.
We Can Learn 3 Lessons From Trump's Partial Syria Withdrawal
Reshuffling is not only a haphazard half-measure—it is no substitute for the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria.
WTF: Lindsey Graham Says Trump Is Repeating Mistakes of an 'Obama-Libertarian Foreign Policy'
Graham criticism of Trump's Syria policy says a lot more about the senator's appetite for endless war than the failures of an imagined non-interventionist foreign policy.
Drone Strike in Afghanistan Results in Deaths of 30 Civilian Pine Nut Farmers
The war on terror leaves more dead civilians in its wake.
The U.S. Shouldn't Rush to War With Iran Over Saudi Oilfield Attack
Open warfare between Iran and Saudi Arabia would be far worse than this weekend's attacks.
Trump Says War With Iran 'Wouldn't Last Very Long.' History Says Otherwise.
If the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are any indication, the move would be a disaster.