I am writing to share with you my great concern about the Defense Authorization Act, just passed by Congress and signed by you, which permits indefinite detention of American citizens.
This year will long be remembered and analyzed by scholars and students for the so-called “Arab Spring” sweeping the Arab world from North Africa across to the Arabian Peninsula. Simmering tensions in a dozen countries boiled over in protests and revolts toppling several regimes – Tunisia, Egypt and Libya – and pushing others to the brink. In the Persian Gulf Iran is playing an outsized role, threatening the neighborhood: sponsoring terrorism, building nuclear weapons, and dominating the scene in Iraq as America is shown the door by Baghdad. Meanwhile, 44 years of conflict and occupation in Israel-Palestine shows no signs of a solution. Indeed the threat of an American veto to a Palestinian statehood bid in the United Nations illuminates Washington’s dilemma of balancing interests versus America’s principles.
The United States of America was attacked by the Russian Federation. Attacked. Think about it.
This week the drama that is the Russian invasion of its neighbor, Ukraine, unfolded to reveal the character of strongman Vladimir Putin and to sound a wakeup call to the West that it is back to the future in the relationship with Moscow.
by Pat Ryan It was an odd convergence of events that struck me as I was driving across Monterey Mountain...
by Pat Ryan Like most things in the Middle East the impending train wreck in the Persian Gulf that is...
A wise man once told me that it’s much easier to sell people something “they think they want” than something “you think they need.” That dictum is especially apropos to the task of global affairs awareness – teaching people about the world. We are a nation awash in information resources that offer an endless stream of raw data, context and analyses of the world around us but most Americans are content to leave understanding foreign affairs, our interests abroad and international things to someone else.
Today we posted "Not on the Cover of the Rolling Stone" among the columns here. For those of a different generation who might not have heard the Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show tune you should take a look and listen.
Paul Crompton's article in Al Arabiya today cited Patrick Ryan on the question of US-Saudi trade on the occasion of President Obama's summit meeting in Riyadh.
Too many of us, unfortunately, do not appreciate or care to investigate the background and context of the complexities that have us poised to spend more American blood and treasure on another Middle East war. I challenge you to get smart.