James F. Jeffrey

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A picture taken from Sderot in southern Israel shows smoke rising during bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. (Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images)

The death toll from the Israeli attacks on Gaza now stands at more 9,000. The Israeli government and military remain single-mindedly focused on their stated goal of eliminating the threat posed by Hamas in the wake of its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel, during which more than 1,400 people were killed. But around the world, there are signs of mounting concern about the costs to the Palestinian population.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decisively rejected a cease-fire, saying “this is a time for war”. International humanitarian organizations are calling attention to the daunting scale of civilian suffering. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N.…  Seguir leyendo »

Iran Won't Give Up on Its Revolution

The announcement last month of a preliminary agreement between the United States and Iran has led some to believe that Tehran will now enter the international system as a responsible actor. But such optimism ignores the fact that Iran’s current government still bears the imprint of a long imperial history and longstanding Persian regional ambitions.

Iran is a revolutionary power with hegemonic aspirations. In other words, it is a country seeking to assert its dominance in the region and it will not play by the rules. Yet, the Obama administration hopes a nuclear agreement will have a “transcendental effect” on Iran and convince it to abandon its imperial aspirations in return for a sense of normalcy.…  Seguir leyendo »

I was confused the first time I saw a giant billboard in Addis Ababa advertising Members Only and stressing how “membership has its pleasures,” accompanied by a stark silhouette of a leggy female figure. It reminded me of advertisements in New York for so-called gentlemen’s clubs — not the sort of places you tend to find in Ethiopia’s capital, where levels of disposable income and where that money goes differ markedly.

Members Only turned out to be the latest condom brand released by DKT Ethiopia, an American nonprofit that since 1989 has sold Ethiopia’s most popular brands. DKT’s condoms are usually sold well below market cost, heavily subsidized, as part of the effort to tackle problems like H.I.V.…  Seguir leyendo »

Iraq is at a decisive impasse . An al-Qaeda threat able to operate as a quasi-conventional military force has seized large portions of western Iraq , including parts of Ramadi and Fallujah, two major cities in Anbar province . While the main reason for the growth of al-Qaeda in Iraq , a faction which is calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is the unbridled war in neighboring Syria, the Maliki government’s spiteful actions toward Sunni Arabs have contributed.

In recent days, news reports of Sunni tribes in Anbar cooperating loosely with the Baghdad government against al-Qaeda, and expedited U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

When Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, met President Obama at the White House on Thursday, the most pressing topic was the war in Syria. Turkey has not faced a threat on this scale since Stalin demanded territory from the Turks in 1945.

In 2011, the Turkish government severed all diplomatic ties with the government of Bashar al-Assad and began to support the Syrian opposition groups seeking to oust him. But, thus far, this policy has failed, and it has exposed Turkey to growing risks, most recently two deadly bomb attacks in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli that were most likely planted by pro-Assad forces in retaliation for Turkish support of the Syrian rebels.…  Seguir leyendo »

As the Assad regime hurtles toward deserved collapse in Syria, I often think back to a warning I received from a friend 18 months ago. I was serving then as the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad and was focused on Iraqi problems. But my confidant, an Iraqi Kurd with a strong commitment to a unified, multi-sectarian Iraq, and who was no friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was worried about the uprising brewing in neighboring Syria. Unless the United States was able to influence events, he cautioned, a revolt might violently split Syria, and then Iraq and finally the region along sectarian lines.…  Seguir leyendo »