Column Archive

In a few days, voters will cast their ballots in a presidential election that has been marked by such unimaginable developments that if it were a work of fiction, publishers would reject it as far too implausible. No, we’re not talking about the United States. This election will take place in Nicaragua on Nov. 6. And we can already predict with absolute certainty that Daniel Ortega will be elected president. Again. Ortega’s name became known around the world in the 1980s as a leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, a Marxist guerrilla group that toppled Nicaragua’s four-decade-long Somoza family […]

In less than a week, Americans will vote for their next president. The choice this year is stark, particularly with regard to the two candidates’ character and qualifications. For all her flaws, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is clearly qualified and prepared to assume the presidency. By contrast, her Republican counterpart, Donald Trump, has demonstrated a lack of seriousness and a cavalier amateurishness that makes him ill-suited for the office. This is not so much an endorsement of Clinton as a statement of fact for most unbiased observers of international affairs and national security. It is also unfortunate, since the campaign—while […]

The status of women in traditional Muslim societies, particularly Saudi Arabia, has long been an awkward source of cultural and political tension between the West and the oil-rich monarchies of the Arab world. Women’s roles are gradually changing as these states modernize, but more disruptive social change could well occur within a generation, as larger cohorts of educated women succeed in challenging social norms. Gender issues have been at the margins of U.S. relations with the Arab world for decades, and the mantra inside Western bureaucracies more generally has been that each society changes at its own pace. But while […]