Category Archives: Middle East politics

Don’t be the battlefield for somebody’s war by proxy

Posted on October 9, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

The other day I was reading an article by a South Korean writer, in which he expressed how unhappy his people were about being a battlefield for proxy wars. The Korean war from 1950-53 was a vicious conflict in which … Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Middle East politics, War | 2 Comments

Vladimir Putin’s evil stroke of genius

Posted on April 7, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

As a child, one of my great fears was being the victim of a chemical attack. I read and reread the article on chemical warfare in the Encyclopedia Britannica in the school library with horrified fascination. When we practiced getting … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East politics, War | 3 Comments

No deal, Donald

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

Donald Trump likes deals. He likes the idea of brokering a deal between Israel and the Palestinians, and thinks that he can do it. He can’t, and here’s why: The insurmountable obstacle to a deal is that the essence of … Continue reading →

Posted in 'Peace' Process, Israel and Palestinian Arabs, Middle East politics | 2 Comments

The transformative power of the Palestinian narrative

Posted on March 12, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

The hundred-year war between the Jewish people and the Arabs that hate them will not be over any time soon. There are a million stories that prove it. This is just one. Most Israelis remember the heartbreaking tragedy that took … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East politics, Terrorism | Comments Off on The transformative power of the Palestinian narrative

Why we should pay more attention to Putin than Trump

Posted on March 7, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

“Iran is responsible for more than 80% of Israel’s security problems,” said PM Benjamin Netanyahu, at a ceremony marking 25 years since the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in which 29 died. Two years later, he noted, … Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Middle East politics, War | 1 Comment

Meditations on today’s news

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

I opened my newspaper this morning (Wednesday) and was greeted with the headline: the White House has no comment on the regularization law that was passed yesterday, and will talk about it when PM Netanyahu visits Washington to meet with … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel and Palestinian Arabs, Media, Middle East politics | 4 Comments

How not to stabilize the Middle East

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Victor Rosenthal

My very first blog post almost exactly 10 years ago was about the just-released Iraq Study Group Report, co-authored by Lee Hamilton and James Baker. What struck me about it was how it asserted that the way to solve the … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East politics, US-Israel Relations, War | 2 Comments

The British betrayal of the Jewish people

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Victor Rosenthal

Today the “discovery” of Jew-hatred among British politicians, particularly in the Labour Party, is news. But the relationship of the Jews to Albion, since the citizens of York wiped out their Jewish community in 1190, hasn’t been smooth. Recently, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Jew Hatred, Middle East politics, Zionism | 1 Comment