Blog

My running commentary on events: local, national, and international. Areas of special interest include Israel, Iraq, and dissidents in the Muslim world.

Congrats, Mitt, on another job well done

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Congrats to Mitt Romney, whose victory in Florida’s primary was hard earned. To me, it seems pretty clear that, for Republicans, Romney is the sensible choice. The man has been successful at virtually everything he has ever touched, and both this country and this world need a problem solver now …

Some Jews still support Obama as Israel stares down nuclear threat

By some accounts, most American Jews are planning to vote for President Barack Obama in 2012. And Democrats seem to be mounting a massive public relations effort to shore up Jewish support in advance of the election.

In editorials, on blogs and in conversation, left-leaning American Jews are arguing that the perception that President Obama …

Countering Iran should be top priority in deciding whom to elect president

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that President Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and other top US officials delivered a string of messages to Israeli leaders warning them of “dire consequences” if Israel undertakes a military strike against Iran’s …

How blessed we were - and are

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It’s become a cliche to say that our nation needs a unifier. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. On this Martin Luther King day, I’ve been thinking about Dr. King’s legacy as a unifier.

How easy it is, in this era of identity politics, and class warfare, to feel that …

Go Steelers! (and Tim Tebow)

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Today, the Pittsburgh Steelers face off against the Denver Broncos. And yes, I know Tebow plays for Denver.

Normally this is a political blog, and I was all set to write about the Republican candidates’ debate earlier tonight, when a friend alerted me to this article about my hometown, Pittsburgh, …

Why Iowa matters (though we’re not sure yet for whom it will matter most)

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With Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney neck-in-neck in the wee hours on Wednesday, looks like the Iowa caucus is up for grabs. At the moment, 18 votes separate these men. Can’t wait to see what’s being reported later this morning.

It’s popular to assert that Iowa, the presidential race’s first caucus, …

U.S. headed for showdown with Iran? This commentator has another theory

On Wednesday, Iran’s navy chief said that the Islamic Republic could close the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping channel vital to transporting one third of the world’s crude oil, adding that doing so would be “very easy” for his country’s forces. Including Mohamed Reza Rahimi’s threat on Tuesday to close the Strait if the …

Alusi says, U.S.: “Don’t be the power to help Tariq al-Hashemi; speaks of precarious times for middle east Christians

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In the aftermath of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq and with upheaval in middle eastern nations from Egypt to Syria, Christians are more vulnerable than they have been for decades.

This Christmas Day I spoke with my source in Iraq, former Iraqi Parliamentarian Mithal al-Alusi, who described the situation as U.S. troops …

My meeting with Newt; other impressions from the RJC candidates’ forum and last debate

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Covering the Republican Jewish Coalition’s candidates’ forum a couple weeks back, I had the (brief) opportunity to meet Newt Gingrich (pictured above with his wife Callista, South Dakota Senator Dan Lederman, and yours truly). I also got to meet Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum. Since the gathering was …

Sharansky calls for support for reformers; Alusi cautions U.S. troop withdrawal a blow to human rights in Iraq; Havel, champion of democracy, dies

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The Washington Post just ran this thought-provoking piece on the Arab Spring by former Soviet dissident refusenik and Israeli Parliamentarian Natan Sharansky. As I wrote last spring, Recent upheavals across the mideast from Egypt to Tunisia to Syria can be viewed through the prism of Sharansky’s ideas on democracy and …