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Failing to Know Our Enemies

December 19, 2013  •  Scripps Howard News Service

Less than a generation after World War II, in the midst of a cold war whose outcome was far from certain, John F. Kennedy famously proclaimed that Americans would "support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." More than half a century later, in an era fraught with conflict and tension, it may be time to ask: Is that still our credo?

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The Disinformation Age

December 12, 2013  •  Scripps Howard News Service

Walter Cronkite, the great CBS anchorman from 1962 to 1981, was called "the most trusted man in America" — and polling supported that claim. He'd conclude his CBS Evening News broadcasts with the phrase "And that's the way it is." And it was, too — or, more precisely, Uncle Walter defined for most Americans what was news: what was important, and why.

How different is the world today? Polls now show the media's credibility sinking to historic lows, with only 23 percent of Americans expressing confidence in television news and newspapers.

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Iran after Geneva

November 28, 2013  •  Scripps Howard News Service

To be fair, the document signed in Geneva is not meant to neutralize the threat posed by those who rule Iran. It is meant only to be a "confidence building" measure, a first step toward the "comprehensive solution" that President Obama envisions — or at least hopes for.

It's not a treaty, just a "plan of action," though its purpose, at least from the Western perspective, is to induce inaction — to persuade Iran's rulers to halt their development of nuclear weapons. In exchange, America and the West are to stop economically ostracizing Iran. In this first phase, however, the centrifuges will continue to spin, while sanctions pressure is reduced. Small wonder Iran's rulers have been celebrating.

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The Iranian Rapprochement Fantasy

November 21, 2013  •  Scripps Howard News Service

"Any agreement that does not recognize the rights of the Iranian people and does not respect these rights, has no chance," Mohammad Javad Zarif said last week.

The Iranian foreign minister was not talking about freedom of speech, assembly, and religion — among the many human and civil rights his regime has denied the people of Iran for more than 30 years. No, he was talking about a "right" that does not exist: his regime's "right" to enrich uranium.

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France Derails Iranian 'Sucker's Deal'

November 14, 2013  •  Scripps Howard News Service

Well into last weekend it looked as though Iran was going to win the latest round of negotiations — by a knockout, not on points. Secretary of State John Kerry had flown to Geneva to sign a deal that would have stuffed tens of billions of dollars into the pockets of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, easing the economic pressure — the pressure that had brought Iran to the negotiating table in the first place. The funds would have been turned over with no restrictions. Khamenei could have used them to further Iran's illicit nuclear-weapons program — the program that negotiations were meant to stop.

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