The Lion's Den

When will American politicians and military leaders eventually realize that training foreign soldiers does not allies make them?

Publishing house Palgrave Macmillan apologized for appearing to endorse "the Palestinian struggle."

Western powers enjoy overwhelming battlefield superiority but face great difficulty when trying to shape other countries.

It happens every four years, as U.S. presidential elections roll around: I feel like a stranger. That's because news reports blare out what's not of interest: trivial statistics (171,000 jobs added in October; jobless rate up 0.1 percent to 7.9 percent), biographical irrelevancies (claims that Romney outsourced jobs to other countries when at Bain Capital), and forgettable gaffes (Obama saying that "Voting is the best revenge"). This limited discussion misses the main points.

The 25-minute show was the most hare-brained and loony of my 35 years going on television.

Special Ops used to be about capturing or killing enemies; now it's about shaping public opinion.

If Hamas knows it cannot defeat the Israel Defense Forces and will get a bloody nose for its efforts, it obviously has motives other than victory in mind.

Odd that CUFI is out there swinging and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is silent.

Erdoğan can be seen as the anti-Atatürk, the leader who seeks to undo substantial parts of his predecessor's legacy, especially Atatürk's rejection of Shari'a, or Islamic law.

The point of having embassies in the first place is for them to remain open...

The sort of reasoning going around in Turkey regarding the Israeli strike in Syria can quickly leave one with a sore head.

I vote Republican because I support the party's core message of individualism, patriotism, and respect for tradition, in contrast to the core Democratic message of dependence, self-criticism, and "progress." I am inspired by the original reading of the U.S. Constitution, by ideals of personal freedom and American exceptionalism. I vote for small government, for a return of power to the states, for a strong military, and an assertive pursuit of national interests.

The AWACS Israel is selling to Turkey will potentially be used against Israel in the Mediterranean Sea.

Things have never been so good in the Jewish state.

Should the crackdown succeed in isolating, weakening, and destroying the Islamists, then others will replicate it elsewhere.

Other characteristically Muslim crimes taking place in Western countries include honor killings, female genital mutilation, and slave holding.

Barack Obama's approach pulls the United States back from its customary adult role and has it join the children.

The Nation of Islam's historic role as a bridge between American blacks and Islam ended in 1975 when W. Deen Mohammed followed his father, Elijah Muhammad, as leader of the Nation and immediately disavowed his father's folk religion, bringing his followers to normative Islam, the Islam of the Middle East. From then on, despite the theatrics of Louis Farrakhan, the Nation has been in a long downward trajectory. Now comes evidence, thanks to Tony Ortega in the Village Voice and Eliza Gray in The New Republic, of a jaw-dropping turn by Farrakhan, 79, to Scientology; as Gray's subtitle puts it, "America's two weirdest sects join forces."

You expressed having had "genuine concerns" about Hagel prior to your White House meeting with him; now is the moment for you to follow the dictates of your conscience.

Erdogan's government has mastered the art of provocation and is being rewarded for it.

Both Salafis and mild reformers have gained strength.

Muslims make up 30 out of 31 most wanted terrorists, or about 97 percent of them.

The Egyptian publication Al-Masry Al-Youm reports that the U.S. government has supplied five containers carrying 140,000 teargas canisters to Egypt's Interior Ministry. It further reports that this shipment...

Extra thoughts that could not make the main text of "When AIPAC Went AWOL."

In Russia, Christians are declining by 0.6 percent a year and Muslims are increasing at the same rate, which will have dramatic effects over time