While most of the world has been on lockdown from the novel coronavirus, the wars and political machinations of the Middle East have continued. Amid this turmoil, Russia appears to be making steady progress as a regional power. The pandemic and collapse of oil prices have pounded the region’s already fragile countries. The Gulf oil kingdoms are slashing budgets; Iran is hunkered down and trying to keep its leadership alive and its strategic weapons programs intact. America, meanwhile, is

Viewpoints May 13, 2020

If you’re wondering why it matters that US President Donald Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine while he was requesting political favors from its new president, think about the Ukrainian soldiers who are fighting a nasty proxy war against Russian-backed separatists. America is Ukraine’s ally in this fight. Ukrainian commanders, battling to hold their country together against a five-year onslaught by Russia, have been depending on US promises of military assistance. In life or deat

Viewpoints Sept. 26, 2019

It’s a good rule never to start a fight you’re not eager to finish. But the Trump administration and its Arab allies now seem caught in a version of that dilemma with Iran, which is proving to be a tougher adversary than Washington expected. Iran’s alleged attack On Sept. 14 on Saudi oil facilities caught US analysts by surprise. It was a major strike, using a combined force of 25 Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, according to Saudi officials, against assets that were supp

Viewpoints Sept. 23, 2019

As tens of thousands of protesters marched down Hennessy Road toward government headquarters Sunday afternoon, chanting pro-democracy slogans and waving American flags, it was an exuberant celebration of this territory’s yearning for freedom.The protesters seemed mindless of the danger: Men and women, young and old, ninja-clad teenagers and moms with their kids, all joined in the 15th straight weekend of protest. A doctor at a local hospital, a 56-year-old schoolteacher and a 19-year-old g

Viewpoints Sept. 19, 2019

Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who will retire this month, is that rare senior official in Donald Trumps Washington whose career and reputation don’t seem to have been tarnished by his dealings with the president. The explanation is simple: The low-key, Boston-Irish Marine maintained the distance and discipline of a professional military officer. He did not try to be Trump’s friend or confidant, and he stayed away from palace intrigue. The White House

Viewpoints Sept. 17, 2019

As we move into the fall, there’s one overriding foreign-policy priority for America: Find a strategy to deal with a rising China that protects US interests but doesn’t subvert the global economy. China is the challenge of our time, and the risks of getting it wrong are enormous. Huawei, the Shenzen-based communications powerhouse, argues in a slick new YouTube video that its critics want to create a new Berlin Wall. That’s not true -- Huawei and other Chinese tech companies ha

Viewpoints Sept. 8, 2019

Richard Stengel, a former Time editor who became the State Department’s undersecretary for public diplomacy, writes that he was once an information “idealist.” He believed that in the marketplace of ideas, the truth would ultimately prevail. Not anymore. “I think we all now know that this is a pipe dream,” writes Stengel in a disturbing memoir of his three years on the communications firing line. “Unfortunately, facts don’t come highlighted in yellow. A

Viewpoints Sept. 5, 2019

You could say many things to describe a week in which President Trump got in a snit about buying Greenland, called the Federal Reserve chairman an “enemy,” reversed his position repeatedly on China and rebuffed European allies by saying he’s ready to invite Russia to a global summit at one of his Florida golf resorts.But “exhausting” would be the word at the top of my list after Trump’s whirling-dervish performance. Yes, I’m shocked, confused, sometimes

Viewpoints Aug. 29, 2019

As the G-7 gathers this weekend in Biarritz, President Donald Trump has expressed hope for the return of Russia, the missing guest at the table. But any consideration of this issue requires dealing with his least favorite subject -- Russian cyber-meddling in US elections. The stark reality is that the United States is now fighting a low-level cyberwar to combat Kremlin political interference and other malign actions. US Cyber Command launched this “hunt forward” campaign last summer

Viewpoints Aug. 25, 2019

“Evolve or die,” wrote hedge-fund billionaire Ray Dalio in a manifesto published in April titled “Why and How Capitalism Needs to be Reformed.” With each passing month, more business executives have been joining this unlikely crusade to save capitalism from itself. The loudest reform call yet from inside the system came this week from the Business Roundtable, which represents the chief executives of 192 of the nation’s largest companies. Most of its members signed a

Viewpoints Aug. 22, 2019

Watching videos of Chinese protesters singing the US national anthem in the streets of Hong Kong, or hearing the tear-jerking chorus of “Les Miserables” during a sit-in at the Hong Kong airport, only someone with a heart of stone wouldn’t want to assist these brave people who are fighting for their freedom. But beware. The problem is that easy gestures of support could get these Chinese freedom fighters killed. It’s a problem that insurance companies call “moral haz

Viewpoints Aug. 18, 2019

Where is the United States heading in its confrontation with China, which moved this week from a trade dispute to a currency battle -- with more dangerous tests in Hong Kong and Taiwan looming ominously in the background? Does the US have a strategy in this cascading competition? Do America’s military and diplomatic tools match the scope and subtlety of the challenges ahead? Is America’s growing anxiety about Beijing creating a policy panic that overstates the Chinese threat and unde

Viewpoints Aug. 8, 2019

Last week’s Democratic presidential debates included little substantive discussion of foreign policy -- even about an imminent troop-withdrawal agreement for Afghanistan -- and most of the candidates seemed as eager to retreat from the world as President Trump. The debaters looked eerily like “America First” Democrats, with scant concern about how the United States should protect its interests abroad. Their eagerness to withdraw from Afghanistan matches that of Trump, who wants

Viewpoints Aug. 4, 2019

Among intelligence professionals, President Donald Trump’s nomination of an inexperienced, partisan politician to oversee America’s spy agencies prompted deep dismay -- but also a stolid reaffirmation of the spymaster’s credo: Let’s get on with it. This combination of incredulity and stoicism was voiced by a half-dozen current and former officers I spoke with Monday about Trump’s choice of Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, to become director of national intelligence. Th

Viewpoints Aug. 1, 2019

KOBANI, Syria -- In the direct and disciplined voice of Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Kurdish militia, you can hear the determination that has made the Kurds a great partner for America, and one of the extraordinary survival stories of the Middle East. Mazloum quietly enumerates the sacrifices made by his group, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, in the obliteration of the Islamic State here: 11,000 of his fighters were killed, 24,000 were wounded, and many thousands of civi

Viewpoints July 28, 2019