This essay is written by George Friedman, Chief Intelligence Officer and founder of Stratfor – a private, nonpartisan intelligence service. It is part two of a four-part report on the U.S. presidential debate on foreign policy, to be held Sept. 26.

Barack Obama is the Democratic candidate for president. His advisers in foreign policy are generally Democrats.| MORE ›

24 hours after we published a commentary criticizing progressive activists, politicians and journalists for pretending that if Barack Obama loses in November it will be due to racism, RealClearPolitics published a column by Clarence Page who… does exactly that: ‘In fact, if he fails to show at least a six-point advantage in the polls by Election Day, I expect John McCain to be our next president.’ (more…)

Or so says Barbara Ehrenreich.

It’s an oversimplification of her article, it has to be said. Her point is not that people should be negative, but that they should be careful not to be overly optimistic. Negativity as such is not good, she says, realism is. (more…)

William H. Gross, chief investment officer and founder of the investment management firm PIMCO, explained in an article published at the Washington Post Wednesday that the plan put forth by the Bush administration is not meant to bail out Wall Street. Instead, Gross argues, the plan was devised to save Main Street.

I think that his main argument is largely true. (more…)

A lot has been said in recent months about Barack Obama’s ideology. Is he a moderate, or a (radical?) liberal. Or perhaps a pragmatic idealist (yes, those exist. Thomas Jefferson was one of them for instance)?

Although a lot has been said about this subject, this article at Commentary adds significantly to it nonetheless. It is well worth your time.  The author clearly shows that, Obama may not be a far-leftist now, but he certainly was quite a radical progressive only a few years ago. (more…)

Israel responded furiously to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech at the United Nations Tuesday. New Kadima leader and future Prime Minister of the Jewish nation-state Tzipi Livni even went so far as to say that the UN’s vow “never again” to let something like the holocaust happen is “absurd” in light of its decision to let Ahmadinejad speak.| MORE ›

Recent developments have led me to conclude that both running mates are in the very real danger of being characterized as ‘clowns.’

Sarah Palin not because of any major gaffe – she has not truly made big gaffes so far – but because many members of the media supportive of Barack Obama have tried to destroy her. Their first approach was character assassination. That didn’t work out so well, so then they took a second, different approach. Plan B if you will. (more…)

In response to an earlier article about the McCain campaign accusing the New York Times and Politico of being “in the tank” for Obama, a reader wrote:

Why isn’t the Obama campaign whining about the bias and lies of NRO?

Our very own managing editor responded quite well: (more…)

Two advisers to Senator John McCain said, during a retreat hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy at the Lansdowne Resort in Virginia, that the Republican nominee for president would discourage Israel from holding direct talks with Syria, JTA reported earlier Tuesday. Additionally, they said, McCain would not play an active role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.| MORE ›

Pakistani journalist Jawed Ahmad, a 22-year-old reporter who worked for Canadian TV (CTV), said on Tuesday that he planned to force the U.S. government to apologize (and pay) for detaining him for well over 11 months, and – according to him – torturing him while imprisoned.

Ahmad was arrested by American troops because they suspected him of being in the tank for the Taliban. He had, the U.S. military said, “an unlawful combatant.” (more…)