Middle East/North African News & Analysis

Republicans vs. Syrian Refugees: Keep Your tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free Because We’re Scared

Republicans, predictably after the Paris attacks, have turned on Syrian refugees as the latest group from which they can arouse fear in the American people to Republicans' political benefit. Buying into this fear would be ignorant and stupid, and the ...

What the Paris Attacks Taught Me About Israel

When Paris was hit by terrorism and French civilians were killed, the world stood up for the French. When Israel is hit by terror and Israeli civilians are killed, too many people are silent. Standing up against the terrorist murder ...

Terror in Paris: Time to Think, & Sit Down, Shutup to the Ideologues

As this historic terrorist attack unfolds, France, Europe, the West, and the Middle East need to really think about what they've been doing and what they are about to do before doing it. This is a time to be smart, ...

Benghazi Hearing: GOP’s Embarrassing Shame, Clinton’s Triumphant Vindication

Beyond any shadow of a doubt, Republicans set out to tear down and disgrace Hillary Clinton with the Benghazi hearing and made that obvious in their conduct; in the end, they only succeeded in tearing down and disgracing themselves, and ...

U.S. Deployment of Special Operations Forces to Syria: Another Low-Risk, High-reward Move by Team Obama

Author's note: as Trump pulls U.S. troops out of Syria, it's worth noting what I pointed out here in late 2015: that the limited deployments there (then and now) were/are (still) very low-risk, high reward, that we gained so much ...

Blame Bibi Netanyahu for the Violence First, Then Blame Both the Israeli and Palestinian People

Netanyahu, by far, has the most power of anybody in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and this has been the case for over six years. Nobody has done more to shape the current situation over this period, and therefore, nobody deserves more ...

Syria, ISIS, The Walking Dead, The Leftovers, & Tolkien: Musings on the Crumbling of Civilization & Morality

How three TV shows illustrate critical dynamics of the Syrian Civil War and how two books show us why we need to care Originally published on LinkedIn Pulse October 12, 2015 By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) October ...

Putin’s Reckless Syria Escalation Makes Russia, Russians, Target of Global Jihad (Again)

By intervening squarely on the side of Shiite Bashar al-Assad against his own mainly Sunni people and the entire Sunni Middle East, Russia may once again be the center of attention from the global Sunni jihadist movement. But, unlike the ...

Grading Obama on Reducing U.S. “Dependency” on Middle East Oil

Energy Moves An Underreported Triumph by Any Objective Standard Originally published on LinkedIn Pulse August 27, 2015 By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) September 2nd, 2015 The following is excerpted from the upcoming part of my series grading ...

Grading Obama’s Middle East Strategy II: Syria’s Civil War

Grading Obama on what has—and has not—been done by his administration regarding the Syrian Civil War Originally published on LinkedIn Pulse August 3, 2015 By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) August 3rd, 2015 Reuters This piece has also ...

Republicans: Wrong on Iran Deal & Constitution, Wrong for USA & Israel

It's hard to be so wrong and silly on such substantive issues as war and peace, nuclear proliferation, improving our relationship with Iran, and our Constitution, but the Republican Party is trying very hard and is succeeding spectacularly. We should ...

How Not to Stop Terrorism/Gun Violence: Lessons from Republicans

How the GOP's playbook for myopia, overreaction, and inaction empowers terrorism, violent criminals, and mass shooters Originally published on LinkedIn Pulse June 30, 2015 By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter @bfry1981) June 30th, 2015 The Boston area on ...