Angry protests and brutal crackdowns are nothing new to Kashmir. Neither is the intrigue between India and Pakistan. What has changed is Kashmiris' renunciation of violence—and a reawakened desire for autonomy.
The current conversations of the American political class are frighteningly similar to past black-and-white misinterpretations of fundamental foreign-policy decisions.
Think that state sponsors of terror are pulling all the strings? Think again. Countries like Iran and Syria may play a big role in the terrorism underworld, but they’re quickly losing control over rogues that bite the hands that once fed them.
Simon Sebag Montefiore’s tour through Jerusalem demonstrates that the conquerors of history saw this city as a treasure worth countless lives. The current face-off between Israelis and Palestinians is only the latest intractable conflict.
Itamar Rabinovich's The Brink of Peace is a masterly chronicle of the Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations of 1993-96, in which Israel and Syria--and America--once staked so much hope.
