Recent Posts

Golden Pagers and Dreams of a Gaza Riviera

When Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited U.S. President Donald Trump in early February 2025, he gifted him a golden pager, an allusion to Israel’s booby trapping of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon that had been ordered by Hezbollah, intercepted by Israel and turned into lethal weapons. The …

Read More »

Why U.S. Aid to Iran’s Civil Society Falls Short

The road to Iran’s freedom is paved with well-intentioned U.S. grants — but intent alone has never toppled a dictatorship. The Trump administration’s broad pause on foreign assistance includes a hold on funding distributed by the Near East Regional Democracy (NERD) program, which is aimed at supporting democracy in Iran. …

Read More »

If Trump wants peace in Ukraine, he must increase the pressure on Putin

For months, US President Donald Trump and allies such as Senator Lindsey Graham have stated that if Russian President Vladimir Putin rejects peace efforts, the United States will impose new sanctions to bring Russia to the negotiating table. So far, however, the Kremlin has refused to join Ukraine in accepting …

Read More »