Fifteen months after the outbreak of the cross-border war in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s longest, Israel and Hamas have finally reached a ceasefire and hostage release agreement. The Israeli cabinet is expected to ratify it in the coming days. The deal, the product of months of on-again, off-again negotiations, will officially take effect on Sunday, […]
The downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month has clearly benefited Turkey, one of Syria’s neighbors. A key regional state, Turkey will most likely be a major player in Syrian politics from this point forward. For years, however, Turkey and Syria were estranged, greatly diminishing Turkish influence in Syrian affairs. Turkish President Recep Tayyip […]
An inflection point in American history, the U.S. Civil War erupted less than a century after the formation of the United States. Resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers, or six million by today’s calculation, it was the costliest war ever waged by the United States. Breaking out in 1861 and ending in 1865 with […]
Donald Trump, the U.S. president-elect, is still ten days away from his inauguration in Washington, D.C., yet he is already causing shock waves in foreign capitals. In the past few weeks, he has unleashed a series of contentious comments strongly suggesting that he covets Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal. In this respect, he sounds […]
He was a divisive and corrosive force in French politics, and he will not be missed by the majority of voters. A rabble-rouser who pandered to xenophobia, racism and resentment, Jean-Marie Le Pen was the founder of the National Front and a major figure in the right-wing movement in contemporary France. Le Pen, who died […]
Syria has been a work in progress, a nation to be rebuilt, since the downfall of its autocratic president, Bashar al-Assad, a month ago. It is far too early to ascertain in what political direction Syria is heading, but if the past is any guide, Syrians should not expect their country to become a Jeffersonian […]
Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, the lone wolf terrorist who rammed a pickup truck into street crowds in New Orleans on January 1, killing 14 pedestrians, was radicalized by Islamic State, the jihadist organization which has left a legacy of death and destruction around the globe. An American-born convert to Islam, he had no police record of […]
As 2025 gets under way, Israel appears better off strategically than in the previous two years. Israel was dealt a stunning blow when Hamas terrorists breached its high-tech fortified border fence along the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 and proceeded to kill about 1,200 civilians and soldiers, sexually abuse numerous women, and abduct 251 […]
The last movie I saw starring Adrien Brody was The Pianist, which was released in 2002. Directed by Roman Polanski, it related the harrowing story of a Jewish pianist, Wladyslaw Szpilman, who survived the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Poland. Turning in a brilliant performance as Szpilman, Brody deservedly won the Academy Award for best actor. The […]
Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, established a consequential record, at least insofar as the Middle East was concerned. Carter, who passed away on December 29 at 100, was the only former president to reach that age. He will be buried in a state funeral on January 9. By any measure, he […]