Iran

An old Soviet joke described the Kremlin's approach to policy under Leonid Brezhnev as "pull the curtains and pretend the train is moving." The US National Security Strategy just issued by the Bush administration expresses the same general philosophy.

It would seem, to judge by this document, that the train of US official thinking has not moved for four years. For this NSS basically restates, in somewhat milder language, the notorious National Security Strategy of 2002. This is in… more

Sixty years ago, on February 22, America faced a difficult geopolitical situation. We had just won World War II against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, but the smoke had barely cleared from those conflicts when we realized that a new enemy loomed dead ahead: Soviet Russia. Confronted by an increasingly ominous Stalinist threat, Americans, who had been hoping for peace, found themselves preparing yet again for war. And so it is today. We won in Iraq, but now we must… more

The conventional wisdom on the State of the Union address is that George W. Bush's ambitions, which are normally Texas-sized, have been reduced to the dimensions of, say, Delaware. But those who wish to shrink this president should bear in mind that he has three more years in office.

On ABC News immediately afterward, correspondent Terry Moran concluded, "This was a chastened President Bush." And a "news analysis" in The Washington Post the next day was headlined, "Lowered Expectations Reflect… more

When nations go to war, government spending goes up. First for the fighting, then for the social-welfaring.

So all the fond dreams of reducing the size and cost of government in the years ahead are just that--fond dreams and nothing more. If a country calls its young people to rally to the colors, it had better be prepared to pay for their service, in the short run and also the long run. To do otherwise is to risk disaster, on… more

America lost Iraq as soon as it won the war. A pervasive sense of lawlessness set in immediately following the fall of Saddam's regime from which neither Iraq nor the Americans ever recovered. On the ground, it was apparent from the first month of the occupation that things would be much worse than anybody had imagined. Observing the violence, often caught up in it, listening to sermons in mosques throughout the country, reading the posters on the walls and… more

Here's a safe prediction for 2006: The Mideast will continue to be the world's hot spot. And yet, Iran, which many think will heat up this year, may stay cold--but not get friendly.

For months, the Bush administration, responding to public opinion trends, has been hinting that Americans will be a diminishing presence in Iraq. The papers are full of accounts--never quite contradicted--about a drawdown of American troop levels. And in recent days The Washington Post, reflecting White House budget… more

When Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called last week for Israel to be "wiped off the map," he raised fears not only abroad but also at home, particularly among Iran's sizeable, democratically minded middle class. The new president's confrontational tone threatens to deepen the isolation of Iran's democrats, pushing them further behind his long shadow. Western powers have a dual challenge: to find a way to engage this population even as they struggle to address the new president's inflammatory rhetoric.… more

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Washington this week and, in addition to meeting with President Bush, will address a joint session of Congress -- an indicator of the dramatic change in the once-chilly relationship between India and the US.

Equally remarkable has been the upturn in the India-Pakistan relationship, which the Bush administration has helped promote.

But by doggedly opposing the projected gas pipeline from Iran across Pakistan to India, the administration is still forgoing a key opportunity to… more

The police officer stepped into the traffic, blocking our car. Tapping the hood twice, he waved us to the side of the road. My driver, Amir, who had been grinning broadly to the Persian pop his new speaker system thumped out, turned grim. "I don't have a downtown permit," he said, referring to the official sticker allowing cars in central Tehran at rush hour. "It could be a heavy fine."

We stepped out of the car and approached the officer.… more

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini once famously dismissed an aide worried about inflation by telling him that "this revolution was not about the price of watermelons." Today, Khomeini's successors are finding the high price of watermelons -- not to mention of meat, housing, and cars -- much harder to ignore. The untold story of post-revolutionary Iran is one of economic decline: the steady, 25-year deterioration of a nation that once boasted a per capita income equivalent to Spain's, pumped six million barrels… more