International

Americans’ foreign policy mistakes accelerate during campaign season

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM –The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but shallowness is also part of the mix. This is one of those columns that is sure to provoke responses that I have become anti-American and too narrowly fixated on Israeli perspectives.   I’ll deny the first charge and admit to being primarily […]

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Ira Sharkansky, USA

U.S. refocusing on the Pacific in wake of China’s military build-up

WASHINGTON, D.C (JINSA)–Too long neglected, the Pacific region will soon be getting its due. As U.S. forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan and have already departed Iraq, it is to the strategically important Pacific that American attention will be directed. And not a moment too soon. Friends and allies in the region have spent the better

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International

Unrepentant ex-president begins prison sentence for sex crimes

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–He’s now # 1418989  in the Maasiyahu Prison, near Ramla. This is a minimum security facility, which houses white collar and other convicts not judged to be a danger to society. And within this prison, Moshe Katsav has been assigned to the unit for religious prisoners. To some, this may be the

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Politics of European Union similar to U.S. under Articles of Confederation

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM –Those wanting to understand what is happening in Europe can learn something from the chapters in those dusty American history books that deal with the Articles of Confederation.   For reasons I’ll get to, the lessons are limited, but still worth considering.   Like Europe today, the states under the Articles

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International, Ira Sharkansky

Anti-Israel professor misuses CSUN website

By Bruce Kesler ENCINITAS, California — Does David Klein, a math professor at California State University, have the bright to use the university’s web server, the  url (http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/boycott.html )  being  the university’s, to post a hate page against Israel and Jews? The webpage says, “Israel is the most racist state in the world  at this  time,”

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USA

Hillary’s criticism of Israeli democracy wide of the mark

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Now that Americans and Israelis may have finished arguing about the campaign to bring emigrants back home, they are in full tilt about comments made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At a “closed” but thoroughly leaked meeting of Israeli and Americans concerned with public affairs, she expressed deep concern

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

If attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities is Israel’s only option…

By Evelyn Gordon WASHINGTON, D.C.–The media chatter that erupted in October about the possibility of Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities sparked an immediate reaction: Both in Israel and abroad, opponents argued against such a strike, warning of various dire consequences. Certainly, Israel would prefer not to attack Iran: It would rather see Tehran’s nuclear program

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Middle East

Pro-Israel groups organize to combat Palestinians, leftists on campus

By Bruce Kesler ENCINITAS, California –The old “gentlemen’s agreement” worked sub rosa to discriminate against Jews and preserve the homogeneity of neighborhoods or work places. General indifference permitted this. The new “gentlemen’s agreement” works similarly on many campuses to preserve the homogeneity of leftist and pro-Palestinian thought, again permitted by indifferent administrators. As many of

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USA

Israel’s immigration ministry hurts Americans’ feelings with ill-conceived ad campaign

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Emigration from Israel is one of those issues that erupts every so many years to excite the fearful. Americans might think about abortion, prayer in the schools, gun control, or the placement of a Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah on a public place. What is common to them all is

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Nuclear sabotage in Iran preferable to all-out war

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–There has been another explosion in Iran. This one in the city of Isfahan, home to spectacular Muslim architecture, and industrial facilities linked to the country’s nuclear program. There are no reports that the explosion damaged the mosques or madrases. Among the Iranian reports are that it occurred at a gas station.

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East