JERUSALEM: The recent surge in Turkey's military actions against the Kurds in northern Iraq is an indication that, somewhat surprisingly — but not entirely unpredictably — Turkish foreign policy has undergone a 180-degree turn in less than two (...)
JERUSALEM: During the turmoil of the French Revolution, a popular saying arose: “How beautiful was the republic — under the monarchy.” The revolution aimed at achieving liberty, equality, and fraternity. Instead, it wrought for France — and much of (...)
JERUSALEM: The imminent resumption in Washington of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks is good news. But whether these talks will lead to an agreement, let alone within one year as US President Barack Obama hopes, is another matter.
When (...)
JERUSALEM: A few months before he became Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chief adviser, met with a group of Middle Eastern academics and policy experts, including Arabs and Israelis. With his (...)
The saying goes that it is difficult to prophesy, especially about the future. But let us try. There is no doubt: the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is stalled, and all of US President Barack Obama s charisma - and US power - have until now (...)
After Israel's inability last summer to achieve a conclusive victory over Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, public pressure forced Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government to appoint a commission to examine the causes of this surprising failure. How (...)
It is now pretty clear that despite almost universally repeated incantations, the Quartet "road map is not going anywhere. In a way, it never was a road map, but a wish list; nor did it specify how to get from A to B. Above all, it put both (...)