Is Iraq Shifting to Iran?
Gary Sick served on the National Security Council staff under Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan. He was the principal White House aide for Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis and is the author of two books on U.S.-Iranian relations. Mr. Sick is a captain (ret.) in the U.S. Navy, with service in the Persian Gulf, North Africa and the Mediterranean.
In removing the Taliban and Saddam, the Bush administration effectively elevated Iran to regional superpower-and left Sunnis worried that Iraq would become an Iranian colony. But Gary Sick sees a different shift in the region.
Iran's Supreme Revolutionary
Reza Aslan, a contributor to the Daily Beast, is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and senior fellow at the Orfalea Center on Global and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of the bestseller No god but God and How to Win a Cosmic War.
By inexplicably inserting himself into the election controversy, Ayatollah Khamenei is destroying his reputation and tainting himself with an aura of corruption, Reza Aslan writes. Worse, he's unwittingly turning a protest into a revolution.
@Revolution: Taking a Page from Khomeini's Playbook
Nasser Weddady and Jesse Sage direct the HAMSA civil rights initiative of the American Islamic Congress. They have organized numerous training seminars on civil rights reform and nonviolent direct activism for young Middle Easterners. Weddady's coverage of the ongoing Iran protests can be found on Twitter via @weddady.
Jesse Sage and Nasser Weddady direct the HAMSA civil rights initiative of the American Islamic Congress. They have organized numerous training seminars on civil rights reform and nonviolent direct activism for young Middle Easterners. Weddady's coverage of the ongoing Iran protests can be found on Twitter via @weddady.
Thirty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini mastered the art of nonviolent confrontation to mobilize grassroots support and respond strategically to repression by the Shah's regime. Can today's opposition learn from his feat?
Holbrooke's Dangerous Game in Pakistan
Well known Indian journalist M.J. Akbar is the editor of Covert, a fortnightly magazine of current affairs, a blogger and the author of many books, most recently Blood Brothers.
Once a staunch opponent of jihad, Pakistan has turned into a toxic "jelly state" run by theocratic armies. Can Obama's special envoy unite the country against the Taliban?
One of the first dilemmas to face President Obama's National Security Council will be Iran. Expect fierce internal debate between the new Administration's Iran doves and hawks. Yes, Obama does have Iran hawks, but outing them is not the...
Dan Senor, a professional investor, is an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle. From 2003-2004, he was based in Baghdad as a senior adviser to the U.S.-led Coalition in Iraq.
Why Barack Should Grow a Beard
Abe Lincoln used his transition to grow his famous whiskers. Just what Obama needs to project gravitas in these troubled times.
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Martin Jacques is the cofounder of the UK think tank Demos, writes a regular column for The Guardian, and is a visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics Asia Research Centre. His new book, When China Rules the World, is available now.
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, is a professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.
Jeffrey Koterba is an acclaimed syndicated political cartoonist. Since joining the Omaha World-Herald in 1989, he has been a finalist for Editorial Cartoonist of the Year from the National Cartoonists Society and has placed second in the National Headliner Awards. His work is distributed through King Features Syndicate to 400 newspapers nationwide, and has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post, among others.
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