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Security

Commentary

Al-Qaeda Grows in Sinai

While the world's eyes were on Cairo, the Sinai became a hotbed of terrorist activity that now threatens Egypt's fragile alliances.

No Hotline to Tehran

America’s strategic response to a nuclear Iran must assume the worst, and prepare for prevention while envisioning a regime of containment and deterrence.

How to Defeat Iran

Air strikes are not the only option for using force against Tehran.

Essays

Why We Exist

The National Interest stands for realism in U.S. international relations, a conviction that foreign policy should be based upon real-world considerations—forces, pressures and passions emanating from factors of culture and geography.

Rethinking the Pakistan Plan

U.S.-Pakistani relations are in crisis. Strategic fear of India prevents Pakistan from bending to U.S. demands. Easing India-Pakistan tensions could change the dynamics of the U.S.-Pakistan alliance.

The Seoul Nuclear Summit

Obama has emerged as champion of securing vulnerable nuclear materials. Two years after his Washington summit on this arcane but important matter, national leaders will descend on South Korea to track progress and fashion goals for the future.

Reviving the Peace Process

Obama can take credit for several foreign-policy triumphs, but he has failed to revive the moribund Mideast peace process. Arguments for why it can’t be done crumble against the imperative of American presidential leadership.

Putin and the Uses of History

“I do not need to prove anything to anyone,” declared Vladimir Putin. Convinced he is the steward of his country’s future, Putin masters Russia’s history—and seeks to manipulate it.

Triumph of the New Wilsonism

No national interest was cited as a rationale for America's Libya campaign; the action was justified solely on humanitarian grounds. This marks a fundamental break with past U.S. policy prescriptions for such military interventions.

Blogs

Deeper into Terrorism

Reports that Mossad is working with an Iranian terrorist group raise larger questions about Israel and American interests.

Progressive Grand Strategy

Can America develop a foreign policy that’s above ideology?

Books & Reviews

Eyes and Ears of the Arab Spring

The English-language news channel of Al Jazeera consistently is first on the scene of Mideastern developments, and its journalists provide smart analysis of global events. It may be today’s most influential television-news operation.

Schemes That Set the Desert on Fire

After WWI, Britain and France made the Arab world the object of history, not its subject. James Barr’s new book shows that the Middle East was born crazy. Later misunderstandings and manipulations were laid atop well-worn grooves.

The Contradictions of George Kennan

George Kennan presents a study in paradox. With penetrating scholarship, John Lewis Gaddis explores Kennan’s complex psychology and provides an intellectual history of the Cold War in his comprehensive and wonderfully written biography.

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February 13, 2012