Author Archives: Soccerdad

John Kerry and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week in Diplomacy I almost feel bad for Secretary of State, John Kerry. This really has been a brutal few days for him. There was the op-ed by Jackson Diehl John … Continue reading →

Reporting on the Politics not the Substance of the Deal Over the past few days the reporting from Geneva changed from anticipation of an imminent deal to a final “no deal.” Or “no deal” for now. The New York Times … Continue reading →

Phony Polonium The New York Times reports Swiss Report Supports Theory Arafat Was Poisoned. Now, of course, the New York Times isn’t the only news outlet to be reporting this. But is it news? When someone makes an incredible claim, … Continue reading →

The Media’s Settlement / Prisoner Hypocrisy As we’ve noted earlier, much of the media is obsessed with settlements, intent on portraying them as the main obstacle to peace. There’s a tendency on the other side to take one of the … Continue reading →

“[N]ot a prescription for peace but for renewed hostilities” To read through recent news reports one could assume that the biggest obstacle to Palestinian Israeli peace are “settlements.” To cement that impression the New York Times published an article, 1,500 … Continue reading →

When Wishful Thinking Becomes Foreign Policy Last week as we noted, the New York Times ran a devastating article about President Obama’s Syria policy. The Times reported, among other things, that the President was disinterested in planning discussions about Syria. … Continue reading →

A Necessary Crisis with Iran Shortly after the first round of nuclear talks with Iran had concluded one of the American negotiators said: “… I have never had such intense, detailed, straightforward, candid conversations with the Iranian delegation before.” The … Continue reading →

Limited by Legalisms Yesterday’s New York Times featured an article Obama’s Uncertain Path Amid Syria Bloodshed is probably one of the most devastating indictments of the President’s Syria policy published. I don’t think that the reporters set out to critique … Continue reading →

Does the United States believe that “no deal is better than a bad deal” with Iran? The West (otherwise known as P5 + 1) has concluded its first round of talks with Iran about its nuclear program in Geneva. The … Continue reading →

The New York Times’ War Against Binyamin Netanyahu Last week in an article On Iran Talks, Congress Could Play ‘Bad Cop’, the New York Times quoted an “expert” named Cliff Kupchan: It is a role that Congress shares with Prime … Continue reading →

The hate the New York Times Dares Not Report The New York Times today featured an article, Behind Flurry of Killing, Potency of Hate, which focuses on how dehumanizing an enemy makes it easier to kill. The article focuses on … Continue reading →

How the MSM acts as Rouhani’s PR Flacks One of the problems with President Hassan Rouhani’s charm offensive is that he has a record. It’s a record that shows that he excuses the death penalty for protesters, defends Iran for … Continue reading →

Iranian Diplomat Lies; UN Credibility Dies (Again) After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United last week, a number of op-eds in both the New York Times and Washington Post criticized him. A reading of the speech shows that it … Continue reading →

The Columnists who Cried “Sheep” Last week the Washington Post featured a column by David Ignatius arguing that Israel should let the United States give negotiations a chance. Ignatius used 1973 Yom Kippur War as a lesson for Israel, but … Continue reading →

Keep your enemies close; push your friends away In a remarkable op-ed last week, Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post excoriated Obama’s Myopic Worldview. After noting that the President claimed in his U.N. speech, “The world is more stable than … Continue reading →