The Agony and Ecstasy of an Empire: The United States in the Middle East

Economic hegemony has been the cornerstone of U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf since the end of the Second World War.  America’s “special relationship” with Israel, a term first coined by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, is founded on business.  Economic supremacy was also at the heart of the oil-for-security bargain that the United States sealed with oil-rich Saudi Arabia after World War II.   More

The Sniper Man: Quinn Buckner’s Assault on Free Speech and Academic Freedom at Indiana University

On Buckner’s watch, the Bloomington campus made national headlines last spring with a viral photograph of a state police sniper atop the iconic Indiana Memorial Union building overlooking campus war protests. Three floors below the gunman’s sights, in the historic Free Speech Zone known as Dunn Meadow, armed Indiana State Police with riot shields advanced on peaceful protesters, evicted them, tore down their encampment, and arrested fifty six. More

Netanyahu’s Intoxicated Euphoria will Turn into a Prolonged Hangover

The Iranian retaliation against Israel followed a week of political ploy and military subterfuge. On the political level, Iran’s newly elected reformist president extended conciliatory gestures at the UN General Assembly, while the Supreme Leader issued somber statements of resignation in what seemed to be an acceptance of fate. On the military front, U.S. intelligence More