"After endless hours of fruitless negotiations toward a peace settlement in 2013–2014, it turns out that his [Kerry's] opposite Israeli interlocutor, Benjamin Netanyahu, was not negotiating in good faith....The European reaction to this drastic change of policy will not be kind to Mr. Netanyahu."

"...[T]he kindest word one can find in the whole episode of the talk before the Congress, is that Bibi used bad judgment. Firstly, in lending himself (or more) to a cabal of the Israeli Ambassador to Washington and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to set in motion the visit without informing America's principal policymaker, the President of the United States. Secondly, to do this in the midst of a political campaign in Israel, where such an initiative would presumably produce a winning vote."

"In recent years, Germany has developed a modest military capability, but this is far from what it could be. The fact is that Germany is the only European country that has the potential to stand up to Vladimir Putin's Russia. Together with France, which thanks to Charles de Gaulle, did not have hang-ups about maintaining a strong military capability and equipped itself with an independent nuclear force, this could be a formidable check on a resurgent and hostile Russia."

"Laïcité is sort of a civic French religion that substitutes for conventional religions, which are not allowed to manifest themselves in the public space officially. Separation of church and state is mandatory. This is the reason behind the banning of the Muslim full facial scarf  (le voile intégral) in schools and other public places."

The closer the Western powers and Iran come to a negotiated settlement, the more we hear the West and Iran are destined to be enemies. Can the political establishment in the West and Israel ever say 'yes' to peaceful co-existence with the Islamic Republic? CrossTalking with Charles Cogan, Chuck Freilich, and Jim Lobe.

The question arises subliminally as to whether Israel is really a full-fledged foreign state. An Israeli head of government can slip into the U.S. and address Congress on Iran without reference to the person in charge of U.S. foreign policy? One can only conclude from this paradox that both John Boehner, a Congressman from Ohio who is also Speaker of the House, and along with him Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were acting in no small part by gamesmanship... unless we want to permit multiple congressmen and multiple senators to take on the role of Secretary of State.

"The reaction to this new provocation was predictable, from shootings in Niger to howling mobs in Karachi, a city of 20 million people. Fortunately, the latter crowds were far from the gates of Vienna, so to speak — an evocation of the moment, in 1683, when Muslim Turkey's last attempt to invade Europe was repulsed."

"France is one of the most heavily policed countries in the world, for keeping order in a disorderly nation, apt—with its revolutionary tradition—to take to the streets at the drop of a hat, to accomplish political ends."

"Much of the ambiguity in Pakistani foreign policy stems from its inferiority complex vis-a-vis India. Though Pakistan is hardly a small country (pop. 188 million), it is dwarfed by is neighbor (pop. 1.22 billion) and has lost a series of wars with India since Partition, which in retrospect is regarded by many as having been a mistake. Pakistan lost Kashmir, whose Hindu maharajah turned the Muslim majority province over to India. The institutions of British India went to the Indians at Partition, and Pakistan had to seek out and build a new capital at Islamabad."

"Although Sony has nothing to do with the U.S. Government, and Hollywood has dramatized world leaders before (such as Charles de Gaulle in Day of the Jackal), it seems appropriate to pose the following question: whoever, individually or collectively, came up with the idea of putting together a film, even a farce, which includes an assassination by the Central Intelligence Agency of a living world leader, namely Kim Jong Eun of North Korea?"