'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
As Israeli planes hit targets in Syria for the second time in three days, some Republicans on Sunday ramped up their calls for President Obama to take stronger measures against the Assad regime — but the White House response was muted.
U.N. peacekeeping has had its share of successes, but its failures are more memorable. Two have been memorialized in the movies: the Somali debacle in "Black Hawk Down" and the Rwandan genocide in "Hotel Rwanda." After these disasters, the United Nations concluded it had been too ambitious. Two recent decisions, however, could represent a reversal and should raise concerns in Washington and Turtle Bay.
With Syria mired in open revolt, several other Middle Eastern and North African countries still reeling from the Arab Spring, and Iran at loggerheads with the United States over its nuclear program, it was astounding to hear Israel's president refer to a Muslim country this week not as a problem but as part of the solution.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein reacted to White House confirmation that forces loyal to Syria President Bashar Assad have used chemical weapons on their own people by urging the United Nations Security Council to take "strong and meaningful action" to end the crisis in Syria.
Most Americans look at Iran with a mixture of revulsion and fatalism. The regime is about as bad as repressive regimes get, just behind North Korea. Like North Korea, it is working hard to develop a militarily useful arsenal of nuclear weapons in defiance of the international community.
Technicians upgrading Iran's main uranium enrichment facility have tripled their installations of high-tech machines that could be used in a nuclear weapons program to more than 600 in the past three months, diplomats said Wednesday.
China is pulling its weight when it comes to enforcing U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea after the crumbling and hermetic Communist dictatorship carried out its third nuclear test, according to South Korean officials.
On Sunday, June 25, 1950, the Korean People's Army attacked across the 38th parallel, captured Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, and began driving south. The battered South Korean army and their U.S. military advisers quickly were pushed into the "Pusan Perimeter" on the southern tip of the peninsula - and U.S. President Harry Truman took the case to the United Nations Security Council.
The White House said Friday it "would not be surprised" if North Korea launches a missile soon as tensions escalate on the peninsula.
Now that negotiations over Iran's illicit nuclear program have concluded, the Islamic regime is positive the West will start easing sanctions, not because Iran will halt its nuclear activity, but rather owing to a belief that the West has reached the end of its ability to pressure the regime.
