In seeking to protect Israel from an existential Iranian threat, Prime Minister Netanyahu confronts problematic facts and key uncertainties. It will be interesting to hear how he deals with them in today’s address to Congress and all Americans—who also face an existential threat from Iran, whether they know it or not. Read Full Story
Former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta and other departed senior officials have stated their misgivings about President Obama’s strategy, that, among other things, helped make possible the rise of ISIS. Panetta recently stated: “When we stepped out of Iraq, we created this vacuum.” ISIS is currently filling the space in the Middle East. Will they succeed? Will they be defeated? Contained? Come here? Hmmmmm . . . Read Full Story
“This is a pinprick. It’s almost worse than nothing because I fear the president is threatening and then he won’t follow through … It’s the weakest possible response and we cannot allow them [ISIS] to take Erbil. What [the administration has] done so far is almost meaningless.” ~Senator John McCain (R-AZ) Read Full Story
As we join in the festivities of our Independence Day celebrations, we need to renew the pledges made by those who proposed the Declaration of Independence some 238 years ago today—again to “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor” to assure the birthright given to us by the Founders is passed to future Americans. Not least is to prepare for and counter the existential EMP threat posed by the current forces of tyranny. Read Full Story
As I watch the expanding tangled web in the Middle East drift toward including a soon to be nuclear-armed Shia Iran to help counter the al Qaeda off-shoot Sunni Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), I can’t help but note that America is drifting into an untenable situation that could end our way of life. These sworn enemies of each other agree on at least one thing—they hate Americans and would kill us all if they could. Soon they may be able to—and still we dawdle, refusing to harden the electric grid upon which our way of life depends. Who should be held accountable? Read Full Story
The quote “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” refers to how complicated life becomes when people lie. It originally referred to a love triangle in the 1808 play “Marmion,” written by Sir Walter Scott. It applies in spades to previous and current policies of the Obama administration, especially those ineptly dealing with existential threats posed by the explosive conditions in the Middle East and East Asia. So, will we pay attention or find ourselves entangled and captured by the web? Read Full Story
We will be adding key policy briefs as we progress.