Robert Ford

In Washington, the Democratic Party’s internal division about foreign policy is growing, and the American military presence in Syria last week was a clear proof. It was bizarre to hear President Biden tell the United Nations on September 21 that the United States for the first time in twenty years…

The reason America appears weak, especially in the Middle East, is because America is reluctant to use military force in the region. And although the war in Afghanistan was a failure in many ways, the reason American is less willing to use military force in the Middle East is in part a result of…

Some observers wonder if Afghanistan is a model for Biden’s policy in the Middle East. One article in Foreign Policy online from August 19 said Iraqis worry that perhaps Biden will abandon Iraq too, and an August 29 article in the Emirati National News online asked the same question. I urge readers…

I don’t know much about Afghanistan and there are people with more knowledge who can explain reasons for the sudden collapse of the Afghan government. I can say that the picture of an American military helicopter evacuating employees from the American embassy in Kabul immediately reminded me and…

Many people are watching the American withdrawal from Afghanistan but there is a bigger debate in Washington about future US military interventions in the Middle East. In response to public opinion, Democrats and even some Republicans in Congress want to make it more difficult to start a new war…

Thursday, July 8, is a critical day for millions of Syrian civilians in the northwest part of the country. The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote on extending the United Nations humanitarian operation that delivers aid across the Turkish border at Bab al-Hawa into Idlib province. …

Perhaps some readers are like me when they watch a horror movie. You know something terrible is about to happen and you want to shout and warn the character not to open the door or to take an emergency action before it is too late. But it is of course a horror movie and the killer or the monster…

The job of prime minister in Iraq is perhaps the most difficult in the region and Mustafa Kadhemi’s biggest challenge is imposing control over all the armed in Iraq. There was some hope that the arrest May 26 of militia commander Qasim Moslih indicated progress on the part of Kadhemi. Instead, it…

Biden administration officials last week claimed they had a key role in establishing the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Of course, the Americans played a role but the American role in 2021 is not the role of America in the region in 1973 or 1979 or 2000. It is smaller and it will remain…

The Israel-Palestinian conflict usually is absent from news programs in America, but events in East Jerusalem, Gaza and Israel in the past week generated noteworthy criticism of Israel from some prominent Democratic Party politicians. In comparison, the Republican Party is united in defending…