Rise in Af-Pak Cross-Border Attacks Spurs Backlash

The steady increase in U.S. cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into the frontier areas of Pakistan – whether by drone missiles or attack helicopters – is causing a serious backlash from both the region's residents and Islamabad's government and military leadership....

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Better Safe Than Sorry?

“Better safe than sorry” is a popular English idiom that can be traced back to Irish novelist Samuel Lover's Rory O'More (1837). Essentially, it means that it is better to take precautionary actions rather than be sorry that you didn't if something bad happens. One...

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Obama Imposes New Iran Sanctions as War Chorus Rises

Amid new calls for Washington to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if its diplomatic efforts at curbing Tehran's uranium-enrichment program fail, the United States Wednesday imposed unilateral sanctions against eight senior Iranian officials whom it accused of...

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Wednesday: 2 Iraqis Killed, 23 Wounded

At least two Iraqis were killed and 23 more were wounded in various attacks. A suspected Iranian suicide bomber was also killed. Meanwhile, Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders is criticizing Iraqi security forces for perpetrating unreported attacks on journalists. Also, the United States is proposing to sell Iraq $4.2 billion in weapons and aircraft.
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Israel’s Reasoning Against Peace

With the resumption of settlement construction in the West Bank Monday, Israel's powerful settler movement hopes that it has scuttled peace talks with the Palestinians. It would be misleading, however, to assume that the only major obstacle to the success of the...

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The Taliban: Forced Into Negotiation While Winning?

Although David Petraeus, the top American commander in Afghanistan, recently peddled the notion that senior Taliban chieftains had made contact with senior Afghan government officials about the possibility of starting reconciliation talks, such talk of peace in our...

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Are Obama’s Hands Tied?

A splendid and courageous new book, Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War, by Andrew J. Bacevich of Boston University (and for many years previously, the U.S. Army), describes with lucidity the degree to which the power of the American presidency over war...

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