Tagged: Middle East

    In Beyond War: Reimagining American Influence in a New Middle East, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Rohde distills eleven years of expert reporting into a call for change.

An incisive look at the evolving nature of war, Rohde exposes how a dysfunctional Washington squandered billions on contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, neglected its true allies in the war on terror and failed to employ its most potent nonmilitary weapons.

Independence Day marked a major event in Israel’s history: A 65th Anniversary, a day of pomp, ceremony and remembrance. But it is also a day to take stock of Israel’s strategic position in the Middle East. Despite the relative calm, there are storm clouds on the horizon.

If one wants to understand what happens in world affairs when the U.S. sits on the sidelines unsure of its role and even its interest, Syria is an excellent case study. Now that a civil war has struck every corner of that country, Bashar Assad and his military force have killed at least 70,000 people, many rebels and may innocent bystanders.

Iran’s position looks a bit stronger once the war in Gaza shifted everyone’s gaze.  But let’s use the breather to understand the bombast about Iran which will surely return.

Public bombast is not an effective or accurate way to get so-called messages to the other side. What goes on in private is vastly different. Diplomacy is private until public deals are reached and announced.

  Rocket attacks by militant Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza on Israel have prompted area police agencies to keep an extra sharp eye out.

Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois wanted to be sure the unrest in the Middle East doesn’t spill over to the Mid-Hudson Valley.