David Ignatius's Blog, page 130

The Islamic State’s potential weakness

The Obama administration’s Iraq policy seems premised on the idea that the terrorist Islamic State is so toxic that it will be self-limiting and ultimately self-defeating. But that’s not the view of U.S. intelligence officials.

Read full article >>

How Obama can show he is serious about helping Iraq

When Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his terrorist Islamic State, he ignored a warning from Osama bin Laden that jihadists should be cautious about establishing a caliphate too quickly. In torching a firestorm in Iraq and Syria, Baghdadi has united his enemies and given them a target to attack, just as bin Laden predicted.

Read full article >>

Can the U.S. help Africa avoid going the way of the Middle East?

President Obama touted this week’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit as “an extraordinary event.” That may sound like hype, but the gathering featured some innovative new ideas to prevent terrorism and lawlessness from spreading in Africa as it has in the Middle East.

Read full article >>

Averting a mountaintop massacre in Sinjar, Iraq

The Obama administration has been delaying decisive action against the terrorist Islamic State until there’s a new Iraqi government and a neater foundation for policy. But the terrible human suffering of refugees trapped in Sinjar should alter that timetable and force U.S. support for Kurdish fighters who can save the refugees now.

Read full article >>

Time for Netanyahu to make peace in Gaza

Now it’s Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s turn to show that he has the vision and leadership to build a durable cease-fire that could empower Palestinian moderates and begin building a pathway from the hell on earth that is Gaza.

Read full article >>

The Islamic State’s challenge to the United States

Warnings from U.S. officials about the terrorist Islamic State that has established a haven in Iraq and Syria sound ominously like the intelligence alerts that preceded al-Qaeda’s attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

Read full article >>

John Kerry’s big blunder in seeking an Israel-Gaza cease-fire

Secretary of State John Kerry has made a significant mistake in how he’s pursuing a Gaza cease-fire — and it’s not surprising that he has upset both the Israelis and some moderate Palestinians.

Kerry’s error has been to put so much emphasis on achieving a quick halt to the bloodshed that he has solidified the role of Hamas, the intractable, unpopular Islamist group that leads Gaza, along with the two hard-line Islamist nations that are its key supporters, Qatar and Turkey. In the process, he has undercut not simply the Israelis but also the Egyptians and the Fatah movement that runs the Palestinian Authority, all of which want to see an end to Hamas rule in Gaza.

Read full article >>

In Afghanistan and Iran, John Kerry brings some reasons for hope

The world has been so chaotic lately that it was easy to overlook two U.S. diplomatic maneuvers — involving the turbulent nations of Afghanistan and Iran — that avoided what could have been dangerous ruptures.

Read full article >>

Review: “A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal,” by Ben Macintyre

By now, the story of British double-agent Harold “Kim” Philby may be the most familiar spy yarn ever, fodder for whole libraries of histories, personal memoirs and novels. But Ben Macintyre manages to retell it in a way that makes Philby’s destructive genius fresh and horridly fascinating — and, to me, at least, ultimately inexplicable. In an age when every puzzle is thought to have its solution, Philby’s inner motivation remains unfathomable.

Read full article >>

The U.S. and Germany are rebuilding a spy partnership

Given recent German indignation about the National Security Agency, it has been easy to overlook the fact that for decades the German government has cooperated extensively with the NSA on surveillance activities. But after a high-level meeting in Berlin this week, this long-standing but veiled cooperation may have a firmer legal and political base.

Read full article >>