saudi arabia

Archive for Tag “saudi arabia”

Yaron Brook and Elan Journo discuss the “Arab Spring”

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 by

Praying time at Al Tahrir squareYaron Brook and Elan Journo recently sat down with the Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, a publication of Seton Hall University, for an interview on how to evaluate the upheavals in the Middle East.

Dr. Brook and Mr. Journo discussed, among other things, why Iran is a significant enemy to America and how we should respond to its threat, whether, as some insist, Saudi Arabia is really America’s ally, and if our use of oil serves to enrich our enemies.

The full text of the interview is here (PDF).

At the launch event for this issue in March, Elan Journo took part in a panel discussion at Seton Hall University in which he discussed how the U.S. should respond to “Arab Spring.” Mr. Journo’s fellow panelists were Alon Ben-Meir of New York University and Paul Sullivan of Georgetown University. The event was moderated by David A. Andelman, who is the editor of World Policy Journal.

image: flickr/cc

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Posted in Foreign Policy

Send a comment to the author

Rhetoric vs. Reality: Obama’s response to the Iranian assassination plot

Monday, October 17, 2011 by

The rhetoric: Following the busting of an Iranian plot to kill a Saudi envoy in Washington, the Obama administration promised to pursue the “toughest sanctions.”

The reality: a New York Times headline sums up: “U.S. talks tough to Iran, but Holds Off on Harsher Moves.” The story goes on: “Despite issuing harsh calls for Tehran to be held to account, the Obama administration does not plan to shift its policy of pressure on the Iranian government.”

What’s fascinating here is twofold: (1) Iran is already enmeshed in an intricate web of “tough” sanctions going back many years, accomplishing little. (2) Even if truly effective sanctions were an appropriate response (it’s not even remotely enough), it’s utterly pathetic that the chances of actually imposing them are next to nil. That’s because Iran’s friends at the United Nations will likely undercut or scuttle a U.S.-led push for sanctions, just as they have done in the past.

Tehran is a regime that has already demonstrated a staggering degree of temerity and militancy: just think of its three-decades-long record of lethal attacks on Americans and U.S. interests. What effect will U.S. rhetoric and non-action have on it? We’ve seen that movie before. That policy of appeasement through inaction has brought us here.

What we should do in response requires a separate discussion, but at minimum, contemplate what a truly resolute, self-assertive U.S. policy would begin with: a frank reckoning of Iran’s militant character and malignant goals. Establishing that kind of moral clarity is a necessary condition for enabling us to confront the threat from the regime.

image: flickr

Tags: , ,

Posted in Foreign Policy

Send a comment to the author

9/11–A Decade Later [video]

Wednesday, October 5, 2011 by

Last month in Washington D.C., ARC hosted a symposium to explore American foreign policy in the post-9/11 decade. For those who were unable to attend live or to watch the live streamed video, below are the videos of the three panel discussions.

Upheavals in the Middle East: Assessing the political landscape

The Islamist Threat: From AfPak to Jyllands-Posten and Times Square

Iran, Israel and the West

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted in ARI/ARC news, Foreign Policy

Send a comment to the author

911–A Decade Later: Lessons for the Future

Friday, September 2, 2011 by

It has been a decade since the Sept. 11 attacks shocked and angered our nation. What lessons have we learned since then? ARC will be hosting a symposium on this subject, titled “Sept. 11—A Decade Later: Lessons for the Future,” on September 8, in Washington, D.C. The program will feature three panel discussions, presenting a range of viewpoints.

If you can’t make this event, it will also be streamed live over the web starting at 1p.m. ET.

Check out the panel topics and speakers on the event’s site. You can also watch the live stream of the event from there.

On ARC’s Facebook page, you can read, watch, and listen to ARI’s numerous efforts throughout the last decade to push for an egoist foreign policy that puts the lives and individual rights of Americans first.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted in ARI/ARC news

Send a comment to the author

Epstein on FoxNews.com: Six myths about oil

Wednesday, December 29, 2010 by

Over at FoxNews.com, my colleague Alex Epstein has published an important new essay, “The 6 Myths About Oil.” It begins:

Every American consumes an average of three gallons of oil a day. Republicans and Democrats call this reliance on oil an “addiction”—an irrational, self-destructive habit that must be broken as soon as possible. This year’s BP oil spill disaster is only making the chorus to “end our addiction to oil” louder. But if we examine the most common arguments for this idea, we see that they are myths. Oil is a vital, viable, and desirable part of our energy future.

And here are the myths he challenges in the essay:

  • Myth #1: America’s reliance on oil is an “addiction”—an irrational, self-destructive habit.
  • Myth #2: There are “green” technologies that are just as good, or better, than oil.
  • Myth #3: Because oil is finite, it will inevitably run out.
  • Myth #4: Because oil is mostly in other countries, they can cut us off at will and create an economic catastrophe.
  • Myth #5: Because oil money funds hostile dictatorships (Iran, Saudi Arabia) by using less oil we can make them poorer and make ourselves more secure.
  • Myth #6: Because the burning of oil produces CO2, oil is a deadly pollutant that must be severely capped.

The whole thing.

Tags: , , , ,

Posted in Business & Economics

Send a comment to the author

Wikileaks, U.S. peace-making dramatized (parody, mostly)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010 by

Drawing on some of the information in the Wikileaks cache, this funny video from Mere Rhetoric captures the absurd, Ostrich-like evasiveness of America’s longstanding policy in the Middle East. It’s parody, but mostly accurate — and therefore, unnerving.

In some quarters of the foreign policy establishment, it’s an article of faith that the central problem in the Middle East is Israel’s (alleged) injustices against the Palestinians. That premise has shaped American policy for decades. But it’s wrong, in many ways. Iran is the key problem. It has been for years. Some of the documents in the Wikileak cache are confirming that fact. File this under obscene, but not surprising: one cable reports how Iran smuggled arms to Hezbollah in ambulances. Another cable reports that even the Saudi regime—which backs Islamist groups and undercuts U.S. interests—even the Saudis recognize that Iran is the 800 lb. gorilla in the room.

When will we?

Tags: , ,

Posted in Foreign Policy

Send a comment to the author