Clifford D. May

The problem with promoting democracy

In a better world, I'd be enthusiastically in favor of democracy promotion and even nation-building — more correctly called state-building. But we don't live in a better world.

March 27, 2018

The Egyptian riddle

With presidential elections coming up on March 26, Egypt's capital is festooned with campaign billboards and posters. That's an encouraging sight in the Middle East, and yet I sense that something is amiss. It takes me a while to realize what: The posters and billboards all feature one candidate, incumbent President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Other contenders are nowhere to be seen.

March 20, 2018

A pope and an imam

Pope Tawadros II had planned to spend last week on retreat in a monastery near Alexandria. But then Mohammed bin Salman, on a three-day visit to Egypt, asked to see him.

March 13, 2018

Black lives in Africa

No nation in Africa is receiving more attention right now than Wakanda. And why not since, as Anthony Lane writes in The New Yorker, Wakanda is "a model of serenity," that also is "wisely ruled," in addition to being "an unplundered homeland, blooming from liberty rather than from bondage."

February 27, 2018

Hopeless in Gaza

Gaza has been an unhappy place for a long time but the situation is now reportedly growing desperate. Jobs are scarce, electricity is intermittent, drinking water is unsafe, and raw sewage released into the Mediterranean is washing up on Gaza's white sandy beaches.

February 20, 2018

With Hamas and Hezbollah seeking to destroy Israel, a Palestinian leader with courage must step up

Decade after decade, one administration after another has set in motion what has been called a "peace process." None has come close to ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

February 13, 2018

Vladimir Putin uses cyber weapons to keep Americans at each other’s throats

Just so there's no confusion: This column is not about Americans conspiring or colluding or coordinating with Russians. That's a separate controversy about which I don't have a lot to say at this moment.

February 6, 2018

China and Russia pose the central challenge, but North Korea’s threat is imminent

High among President Trump's first-year achievements: Appointing James Mattis secretary of Defense. His experience, knowledge, dedication and just plain toughness qualify him, perhaps uniquely, for what he clearly sees as the most important mission of his life — ensuring that America's military forces are equal to the threats they will face over the years ahead.

January 30, 2018

Hezbollah retains ‘A-Team of terrorists’ title, richly deserves to be destroyed

Fifteen years ago, deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage called Hezbollah the "A-Team of terrorists." He regarded al Qaeda as less capable, maybe a B-Team (though certainly not a JV-Team).

January 23, 2018

Why Donald Trump’s epithet must not be a factor in immigration negotiations

Much of my so-called career as a foreign correspondent was spent in countries that could accurately be described with the scatological adjective allegedly uttered by President Trump last week.

January 16, 2018

European Union declines to support oppressed Iranians

It's tempting to say that Europe's leaders lack the courage of their convictions. But that would imply that they have convictions. The evidence suggests those days are gone.

January 9, 2018

Iran erupts. Is another revolution brewing?

The revolution that transformed Iran in 1979 was a grand experiment. From that moment on, Iran would be ruled by an ayatollah, a man with deep knowledge of sharia, Islamic law.

January 2, 2018

Trump, national security team address a ‘wide range’ of national security threats

A National Security Strategy is less a plan of action than an attempt to prioritize. Who, in the president's judgment, most threatens America? What means do we have and what capabilities must we develop to defend the homeland and protect our freedoms?

December 26, 2017

Reimagining a more realistic ‘peace process’

"The peace process" is the name we've given to decades of attempts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

December 19, 2017

Mohammad bin Salman intends to be a liberalizer, but not a democratizer

Mohammad bin Salman is a young man in a hurry. When I visited Saudi Arabia back in February he was only the deputy crown prince. Nevertheless, it was he — not 81-year-old King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and not the crown prince, 58-year-old Muhammad bin Nayef — who was the talk of the town.

November 28, 2017

Territories taken from the Islamic State must not be surrendered to Islamic Republic

Soon after taking office, President Trump ordered his national security advisers to provide "a complete strategic review of our policy toward the rogue regime in Iran." Last month, based on that review, he announced a new strategy "to confront the Iranian regime's hostile actions," including its development of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, its support for terrorists, and its neo-imperialist aggressions. This month that strategy is facing its first serious test.

November 21, 2017

Communism has become problematically and distressingly nostalgic

My political orientation has evolved slowly over decades. With one exception: I became anti-Soviet and anti-Communist overnight. More quickly than that, actually.

November 14, 2017

Osama bin Laden diary shows terror leader’s thoughts

On May 2, 2011, a Navy SEAL team made a brief stop in Abbottabad, Pakistan where they terminated Osama bin Laden's life and then moved on to their second mission: collecting as much information as possible from within the al Qaeda leader's compound.

November 7, 2017

Israel given birth thanks to international efforts

In theory, who doesn't believe in self-determination, the idea, developed in the 19th century, that all nations have a right to sovereignty? By the early 20th century, President Woodrow Wilson was insisting that "National aspirations must be respected; people may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent." In theory, self-determination is today a fundamental principle of international law.

October 31, 2017

Kurdish independence may depend on Trump’s moves

In a just world, the Kurds would have a state of their own. Their culture is ancient. They speak a distinctive language. They have a homeland, Kurdistan, ruled for centuries by Arabs, Turks and Persians -- foreigners and oppressors all.

October 24, 2017