Why peace can't be processed now
Decade after decade, one administration after another has set in motion what has been called a "peace process." None has come close to ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Published February 13, 2018
Clifford D. May
Articles by Clifford D. May
Russia's disinformation offensive
Just so there's no confusion: This column is not about Americans conspiring or colluding or coordinating with Russians. That's a separate controversy about which I don't have a lot to say at this moment. Published February 6, 2018
Ranking America's enemies
High among President Trump's first-year achievements: Appointing James Mattis secretary of Defense. His experience, knowledge, dedication and just plain toughness qualify him, perhaps uniquely, for what he clearly sees as the most important mission of his life — ensuring that America's military forces are equal to the threats they will face over the years ahead. Published January 30, 2018
The terrorist A-Team
Fifteen years ago, deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage called Hezbollah the "A-Team of terrorists." He regarded al Qaeda as less capable, maybe a B-Team (though certainly not a JV-Team). Published January 23, 2018
The president's speech
Much of my so-called career as a foreign correspondent was spent in countries that could accurately be described with the scatological adjective allegedly uttered by President Trump last week. Published January 16, 2018
Europe's silence
It's tempting to say that Europe's leaders lack the courage of their convictions. But that would imply that they have convictions. The evidence suggests those days are gone. Published January 9, 2018
Eruption in Iran
The revolution that transformed Iran in 1979 was a grand experiment. From that moment on, Iran would be ruled by an ayatollah, a man with deep knowledge of sharia, Islamic law. Published January 2, 2018
The dangerous world of Donald Trump
A National Security Strategy is less a plan of action than an attempt to prioritize. Who, in the president's judgment, most threatens America? What means do we have and what capabilities must we develop to defend the homeland and protect our freedoms? Published December 26, 2017
Reimagining a more realistic 'peace process'
"The peace process" is the name we've given to decades of attempts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Published December 19, 2017
The man who would be Saudi king
Mohammad bin Salman is a young man in a hurry. When I visited Saudi Arabia back in February he was only the deputy crown prince. Nevertheless, it was he — not 81-year-old King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and not the crown prince, 58-year-old Muhammad bin Nayef — who was the talk of the town. Published November 28, 2017
The battle for the lands of the caliphate
Soon after taking office, President Trump ordered his national security advisers to provide "a complete strategic review of our policy toward the rogue regime in Iran." Last month, based on that review, he announced a new strategy "to confront the Iranian regime's hostile actions," including its development of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, its support for terrorists, and its neo-imperialist aggressions. This month that strategy is facing its first serious test. Published November 21, 2017
Came the revolution
My political orientation has evolved slowly over decades. With one exception: I became anti-Soviet and anti-Communist overnight. More quickly than that, actually. Published November 14, 2017
Osama bin Laden's secret diary
On May 2, 2011, a Navy SEAL team made a brief stop in Abbottabad, Pakistan where they terminated Osama bin Laden's life and then moved on to their second mission: collecting as much information as possible from within the al Qaeda leader's compound. Published November 7, 2017
The 100-year-old promise
In theory, who doesn't believe in self-determination, the idea, developed in the 19th century, that all nations have a right to sovereignty? By the early 20th century, President Woodrow Wilson was insisting that "National aspirations must be respected; people may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent." In theory, self-determination is today a fundamental principle of international law. Published October 31, 2017
The Kurdish test
In a just world, the Kurds would have a state of their own. Their culture is ancient. They speak a distinctive language. They have a homeland, Kurdistan, ruled for centuries by Arabs, Turks and Persians -- foreigners and oppressors all. Published October 24, 2017
Trump's third way
President Trump made a tough call last week. European diplomats and an "echo chamber" in the mainstream media were insisting he "recertify" the nuclear weapons deal his predecessor concluded with Iran's rulers in 2015. Published October 17, 2017
We'll always have Paris
Europeans seem to have an increasingly bizarre and perhaps self-destructive view of the world, and their place in it. Last week's most creative illustration: The Irish postal service issued a stamp to "commemorate" the 50th anniversary of the death of "Argentinian Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara." Published October 10, 2017
American values are the antidote for racial hate
More than 35 years ago, I went to Africa for the first time, the junior member of a group of American writers. We were visiting The Gambia and, at a stop in the interior, I purchased a small wooden statue at a roadside kiosk. One of the group asked how much I had paid. I told her and, a bit condescendingly, she suggested that next time I ask for her help because, in this part of the world, one bargains. Published October 3, 2017
Latin America's socialist-Islamist-narco-terrorist alliance
At the U.N. last week, President Trump had harsh words for the "socialist dictatorship" that has impoverished Venezuela. He railed against "Islamist extremism" and "radical Islamic terrorism," the former a supremacist ideology, the latter a weapon being used to mass-murder Muslims, Christians Yazidis, Jews and Hindus. He took note, too, of the threat posed by "international criminal networks" that "traffic drugs, weapons, people." Published September 26, 2017
The new Persian empire
Eleven years ago, Henry Kissinger famously said that Iran's rulers must "decide whether they are representing a cause or a nation." If the latter, Iranian and American interests would be "compatible." As for the former: "If Tehran insists on combining the Persian imperial tradition with contemporary Islamic fervor, then a collision with America is unavoidable." Published September 19, 2017
