David Ignatius's Blog, page 119

The United States must not accede to Iran’s ‘red lines’

Iran enters the endgame of the nuclear talks with what amount to two negotiating positions — the parameters reportedly endorsed in April in Lausanne, Switzerland, by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and another set of “red lines” drawn this week by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Read full article >>

Why a 2006 Iraq report merits a fresh read

“The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. . . . Sectarian conflict is the principal challenge to stability.” That’s from the beginning of “The Iraq Study Group Report” from 2006. Nine years later, it’s haunting to revisit the bipartisan commission review chaired by former secretary of state James Baker and former representative Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.). Their grim assessment still holds, and now you have to add Syria, Libya and Yemen as states where “the level of violence is high and growing” and “pessimism is pervasive.” Read full article >>

Bush and Clinton should embrace their brands

The two dynastic candidates told compelling stories recently about why they should be president, but there is one big difference: Jeb Bush has taken the political risk of disagreeing with his party’s base, and Hillary Clinton hasn’t. Read full article >>

The nation’s point man against cyberattacks

In November 2012, Jeh Johnson, who was then the Pentagon’s general counsel, let himself speculate in a speech about al-Qaeda, “How will this conflict end?” He foresaw a “tipping point” at which U.S. officials might be able to say that the group had been “effectively destroyed.” Read full article >>

The ruthless Islamic State’s campaign out-muscles U.S. coalition plan

The Obama administration and the Islamic State both issued new manifestos for the battle in Iraq this week. Guess which one is more forceful?The U.S. plan is to add 450 additional military advisers who will train Sunni tribal fighters at an air base in Anbar province. It’s a careful, incremental step. The American troops won’t go into battle with the Iraqis, they won’t call in airstrikes and they’ll mostly remain inside the protected compound. The hope is to recruit Sunnis to support a Shiite-led government that many of them oppose. Read full article >>

Why Turkey voted against authoritarianism

The march of authoritarianism around the world has had different names over the past decade: “Neo-Ottomanism,” “Putinism,” “the Beijing Consensus.” The shared premise has been that fragile democratic systems were no match for strong rulers who could impose top-down solutions. Read full article >>

Assad nears the tipping point

The regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria is facing what U.S. experts say is the most intense pressure since the early days of the four-year conflict . This new squeeze poses some stark choices for the United States, Russia, Iran and Syria’s neighbors.Read full article >>

A diplomatic juggling act in Asia

When South Korean President Park Geun-hye visited Washington two years ago, she spoke of “Asia’s paradox” — a disconnect between the region’s growing economic cooperation and its deep political and security tensions. Read full article >>

The U.S.’s big intelligence problem

The unexpected fall of Ramadi to the Islamic State this month is the latest sign of a basic intelligence problem: The United States doesn’t know enough about its jihadist adversaries to combat them effectively.Read full article >>

The need for old-fashioned spying on the Islamic State

The unexpected fall of Ramadi to the Islamic State this month is the latest sign of a basic intelligence problem: The United States doesn’t know enough about its jihadist adversaries to combat them effectively.Read full article >>