Foreign Policy

InspireConversation is the parenting blog of, together with his wife, Jason Greenblatt. He is the presidential envoy who accompanied Israel’s Head of Security Services to Jordan to defuse the recent Israeli embassy crisis there.

The Dispensability of Allies by George Friedman — probably the only required reading on President Trump’s upcoming visit to the Middle East, even if it is rather dismal.

George Friedman, founder of Stratfor, explicates the constituent parts of Trump’s foreign policy views — for instance, that multiple bilateral agreements are preferable to multilateral ones (something Israel has always stuck to). Someone recently noted that you can’t point to any particular Washington thinktank and say that this is where Trump gets his views. This might have been meant disparagingly, but it also suggests that the new President has actually been thinking. Indeed, Friedman writes elsewhere that this more general level of thought is the most salutary for a successful presidency.

Albeit behind Iran, Israel squeaks onto Walter Russell Mead’s list of the Great Eight Powers of 2017. It’s amazing that only one European country makes it here.

The world’s most (only?) prescient columnist takes a step back to show us where Russia and China are similar and different to America. This article is one for these new times, to be sure.

The New York Times attempts to embarrass Trump’s new appointment by linking to eight of incoming American Ambassador to Israel David Friedman’s columns in Arutz Sheva as if his words alone are enough to horrify. I for one though agree with everything he writes in these, except perhaps in “Time to Regroup on Iran” where he suggests hitting Hamas harder — not sure about that. I’m with him on J Street, and there’s great stuff on what he dubs the two-state narrative.

Niall Ferguson on Kissinger on the Obama legacy and Trump prospects. Long, juicy, probably somewhat prescient, also a bit nutty.

New British prime minister Theresa May’s first major decision was the nuclear plant at Hinckley Point and it seems she took the easy way out.

In Commentary Magazine Lazar Bergman summarizes Netanyahu’s cautious, patient geopolitical successes. And in the same issue, this more biographical piece by Seth Mandel.

On “the Weimar aspect of our current moment”: I haven’t read Andrew Sullivan for a long time, but he seems to be hitting it here, Democracies end when they are too democratic, in New York magazine.

“The real story of this election is that after several decades, American democracy is finally responding to the rise of inequality and the economic stagnation experienced by most of the population,” writes Francis Fukuyama in Foreign Affairs [requires free registration].

As part of a series of articles on Israel in Foreign Affairs, Aluf Benn worries from the center-Left about crumbling social and political norms while Martin Kramer expresses satisfaction about ever-strengthening strategic might [requires registration, only 1 free article].

In the wake of what seems to this layman to be unwisely tepid Western support, the Kurds of Iraq are building a relationship with Iran.

Who is the enemy to engage, Iran or ISIS? Lee Smith has an answer: Iran, because you can’t defeat ISIS without the Sunnis on board, and you can’t get Sunnis on board against ISIS until you demonstrably tamp down Iran.

An excerpt from Dennis Ross’s book about US-Israel relations. This all seems believable, and fascinating as well.

The tale of USA vs Israel on Iran.

Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, talks to Die Zeit about Germany’s own debt relief and the proper way forward now.

The latest Troika loan package is an “exact repeat of the self-defeating policy that caused Greek debt dynamics to spin out of control in the last two…” rues this astute, outraged commentator. What with the Iran deal as well, we seem these last couple of days to be watching the West’s self-immolation.

“Even a just war should be supported unfeverishly.” Leon Wieseltier articulates my own disquiet. “A provocation does not relieve one of accountability for how one responds to it.”

Read this serious analysis of the conflict in Gaza so far by Amos Yadlin, director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies.

Some strategic implications for Israel of Hamas’s tunnels and rockets by JCPA.

By looking the other way and unconditionally supporting and arming Maliki, President Obama has only lengthened and expanded the conflict that President Bush unwisely initiated, argues — nay, explains — a US official who saw it all. A must-read.

In tandem with Robert Kagan’s recent piece on post-WW2 Pax Americana, Lee Smith suggests Obama is (mistakenly) pursuing a balance of power rather than hegemonic arrangement in the Middle East.

According to the reputable Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, led by Dore Gold, ISIS is an Iranian surrogate.

Perhaps the most frightening thing about this much-lauded essay on America’s post-WWII hegemony is that it was written at all, that our world order is receding so far so fast that we, or at least Robert Kagan, can see outside it.

Garry Samore, President Obama’s White House Coordinator for Weapons of Mass Destruction Arms Control and Counterterrorism from 2009 to 2013, discusses in detail negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

Australian-born himself, rising Israeli statesman Tal Becker does the regional lowdown at the Lowy Institute.

Jeffrey Goldberg imagines what Obama would really like to be doing on his visit to Israel.

Not that this article needs anybody else to promote it, as it’s also the cover story on Esquire, but it’s like watching Zero Dark Thirty through one of the other characters.

Dense, readable, utterly informed, worth re-reading almost as if literary: “How to End the War in Gaza: What an Egypt-Brokered Cease-Fire Should Look Like” by the inestimable Ehud Yaari (now requires registration).

Walter Russell Mead explains why Americans tend to view Israel’s actions so differently than does the rest of the world. In brief: “In America, war is not a sport.”

Andrew C. McCarthy in National Review: The challenge is Sharia.

Mitt Romney invokes the spirit of Marshall in his first major speech after his crushing debate performance, and ends with a nice allusion to the Statue of Liberty. Refreshing and exciting.

Bret (Stephens) on what lessons to take today from the Six Day War.

Alec Baldwin’s calm, grown-up, entertaining talk show, Here’s the Thing.

Robert Gates, Former Secretary of Defense, with Charlie Rose for the hour. Seems like down-home straight shooting to me.

George Friedman of Stratfor on Israel’s new strategic environment, republished by the UK Defence Forum. Also, Friedman on Turkey’s strategy, Iran’s and Russia’s.

Impressive, lengthy, casual yet in-depth conversation between The Economist and the very Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Love her up close and personal potted history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict since 1995.

Dore Gold’s Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs summarizes the gradual thawing of China-Israel relations as China matures.

Jeffrey Goldberg interviews a very articulate, reasonable-sounding President Barack Obama prior to Netanyahu’s visit.

Photographer Paul Conroy makes his escape from Homs through a sewer.

Obama’s well-deserved Mission Accomplished speech on Libya.

Dead. Qua-daffy. The NYT’s potted (and potty) history. “By the time he was done, Libya had no parliament, no unified military command, no political parties, no unions, no civil society and no nongovernmental organizations.”

Aluf Benn’s depressing wrap-up of Israel’s position today. Me, I think it’s not as bad as it looks; to be beleaguered and passive is also to remain above the fray, ignoring the hateful rhetoric as well-nigh meaningless by staying focused on the true hidden conflicts among the neighbors themselves. Iran, Turkey and to a lesser extent Egypt and Saudi Arabia each compete for the same pie of Middle East dominance, while Israel just wants to be left alone to be itself — a liberal democratic ideal that bestows true power, as Ataturk understood.

What the Palestinians want from the UN is not to exercise statehood but to be a “state under occupation” in order to legitimize escalation.

The Weekly Standard gives credit where credit is due to President Obama on Libya.

Despite Libya, what matters now is Syria, namely defeating Iran there.

Recent home interviews with Ehud Ya’ari on Gaza and Syria.

At the Gaza-Egypt crossing.