In The News

How Fear Won the GOP Debate

Michael Grunwald December 16, 2015
Republican US presidential candidates insist they are ready to attack Islamic State extremists with full force. Some suggest banning refugees, and others go suggest a broader ban on Muslims, extreme measures considering the world has more than a billion Muslims and the CIA estimates that the Islamic State extremists total no more than 50,000. Moderators of the fifth debate bear blame for avoiding...

Saudi Arabia Forms Muslim Anti-Terror Coalition

Ahmed Al Omran and Asa Fitch December 16, 2015
Saudi Arabia announced plans for a coalition to battle terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan. “Absent from the list was predominantly Shiite Iran – the kingdom’s main rival for leadership in the Muslim world – as well as Israel and Shiite-led Iraq,” report Ahmed Al Omran and Asa Fitch for the Wall Street Journal. “Still, it remains unclear what the Sunni kingdom is asking the...

The Islamic State Wants the West to Over-React and Hasten Apocalypse

David C. Rapoport December 8, 2015
The Islamic State’s brutality has shifted targets – from expanding territorial control for a so-called caliphate in the Middle East to inspiring random attacks on soft targets in the West. The terrorist group emerged during Syria’s civil war, initially targeting Shia and other Muslims who resisted the primitive beliefs. By 2015, air attacks by the United States, Jordan and other nations combined...

The World Reacts to Candidate’s Proposed Ban on Muslims Entering US

Annie Gowen December 8, 2015
The leading Republican candidate for US president handed the Islamic State terrorists a new recruiting message by proposing a ban on Muslims entering the United States. Other candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, swiftly condemned the proposal as “unhinged” and “unconstitutional.” The billionaire, a former reality television star known for extemporaneous and shocking comments, called for “a...

Why Would Turkey Shoot Down a Russian Plane?

Greg Myre November 25, 2015
Turkey warned and then shot down a Russian fighter plane over its territory, and Russia has announced plans to send anti-aircraft missiles to the region. Both nations are intervening in the Syrian civil war, an escalating conflict that has dislocated millions. Russia supports the Assad regime; Turkey, a NATO member, opposes the dictator. The “episode illustrates why it's so hard to get all...

Double Jeopardy: Russia Strives to Reintegrate With the West

Ashkhen Kazaryan November 24, 2015
Russians want to be responsible members of the global community and seek reintegration, yet they also fervently support their government's aggressive foreign policy. “As the leaders in the West contemplate joining Russia in a strategy to defeat the Islamic State, the world needs to understand the deeper reasons for Russian behavior as much as Russia needs to modify its strategies and...

Air War May Be Satisfying, But Won’t Defeat ISIS

Mohammed Ayoob November 19, 2015
Air strikes pounding strips of territory in Iraq and Syria controlled by the Islamic State won’t destroy the ideology and can inflict civilian casualties. Analysts concur that ground troops are needed to deliver precise attacks. Public opinion in the United States and the European Union won’t permit use of their ground troops, and such force would only reinforce extremist claims about the West...