A conversation with Isabel Kershner of the New York Times about her new book on Israel Timing is everything, and Jerusalem-based New York Times correspondent Isabel Kershner certainly nailed that with her new book — an exploration of Israel’s internal rifts being published precisely as those rifts explode onto the international discourse. The book, The Land of Hope and Fear, appears prescient because of the…

An Erdogan victory in Turkey on Sunday would help illiberalism everywhere It’s human to see things through a binary prism: left versus right, drama versus comedy, democracy versus autocracy. But we can oversimplify. The great challenge to freedom comes not only from cartoon villains like Russian President Vladimir Putin but from the perhaps less evil but strangely more vexing in-betweeners. These…

A debate at the crossroads between high-tech modernity and a catastrophic slide backwards: should nations divide into two when political splits become too much? As Israel marks 75 years of independence, its 10 million citizens are in a seriously foul mood. So it was telling that on the I24 news station the debate I was invited to examined whether the country should be split in two along political and cultural lines.

America doesn’t recognize Taiwan, but is sworn to defend it against the world’s most populous country. That’s odd, but so is life. The list of America’s international buffooneries is rich and diverse, from George W. Bush’s failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to Donald Trump’s adoration of Vladimir Putin and flirtations with Kim Jong Un. But for sheer absurdity that endures for decades, it is tough to top Taiwan.

With Putin assuming the helm of the supposedly premier world body for peace, is it time for reform? What could be more absurd than Russia assuming the presidency of the United Nations Security Council — the world body tasked with preserving world peace — days after the International Criminal Court issued a war crimes arrest warrant against its leader Vladimir Putin? Perhaps that during its last turn at…

He may have failed to “de-Nazify” Ukraine, but in Moldova he de-Stalinized The gifts of Vladimir Putin have attached mostly to the civics realm: alongside catastrophes for those under his boot, the Russian leader has provided the world with a valuable lesson on the dangers of unchecked power. …

You’ve had enough of experts? Of facts? Of data? Magnificent. We shall see how you enjoy poverty, dysfunction and chaos. For such are the fruits of ignorance. — The UK in the 2000s had its problems like everywhere else, but Lord knows London, which was my home for most of that decade, was on top of the world. …

If it raises a war chest and attracts enough politicians from both sides, it could represent more than half the people ideologically and win most states It is commonly thought that the United States has a two-party system, but there is in fact no reason other than inertia for this to be the case. While getting on the ballot can be difficult, nothing in the law excludes a third party, or even a ninth. …

Everything stays the same, until it doesn’t It has been a year since Vladimir Putin launched his war against Ukraine. According to most estimates 100,000 troops have been killed on each side, and almost 10,000 Ukrainian civilians. And yet, little has changed in the position of the sides: Russia is sticking to its absurd narrative of…