Terrorists or Misfits? The Tsarnaevs Were Both
Both explanations for the brothers' alleged actions are correct
If, as authorities believe, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev carried out the Boston bombings, the remaining and pressing question is why they did so. Two competing theories have emerged: that they were Islamic terrorists, and that they were social misfits with psychological profiles more similar to school shooters. READ MORE >>
The Next Elizabeth Warren
Susan Crawford’s crusade against lousy, overpriced Internet providers
Telecom regulators don’t usually have public followings, except perhaps among other telecom regulators. READ MORE >>
It's Time to Intervene in Syria
Red lines exist for a reason. Syria shouldn't get away with crossing one.
There are at least three questions to ask about Syria: First, what exactly is happening there; second, what is the United States doing about it; and third, what, if anything, should the United States be doing about it? It is hard to sort out the details of what is happening in Syria; but the outline is pretty clear; and it’s also fairly clear that the U.S. should be doing something consequential if, as reported, the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons against its people. But it remains unclear what the U.S. is actually doing or planning to do. READ MORE >>
Boston: More Like Sandy Hook Than 9/11
A conversation with Olivier Roy on the nature of the alleged Marathon terrorists
Olivier Roy has a different view of radical Islam from many of the experts you find writing in the American press. Roy, now 63, first went to Central Asia as a 19-year-old high school dropout, but eventually become a leading expert on Islamic politics. He has been a consultant to the French Foreign Ministry and United Nations and is currently a professor at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. READ MORE >>
Gun Control Is a Waste of Precious Time
Obama should have saved political capital for the economy
I’m for the strictest gun control—the kind in Great Britain that bans hand guns and automatic and semi-automatic weapons. That kind of gun control would seriously limit armed violence in the United States. READ MORE >>
The country is headed into a political and economic cul-de-sac. It’s mostly the fault of the House Republicans, who insist on policies that undermine the recovery, but it’s also the fault of the Obama administration for failing to dramatize the choices that Americans face. READ MORE >>
On Thursday, the Standard and Poor’s stock market index hit a record high, surpassing the previous record set in October 2007. Last month, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008. Only the most determined pessimist would find grounds for worry in the current economy. READ MORE >>
Obama's Speech Won't Fix Israel
It was great, but a two-state solution is no more likely
Upon arriving in Israel yesterday, Barack Obama proclaimed the “unbreakable bonds” between the United States and Israel without once mentioning the Palestinians or the peace process. READ MORE >>
MICHAEL IGNATIEFF: "For all the talk about futility and perversity in interventions, it is well to remember that not all of them have failed." READ MORE >>
In the six months before the American invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and the six weeks after the invasion (culminating in George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech), I often compared my situation in Washington to that of Jeannette Rankin, the Montana congresswoman and pacifist who voted against entry into both World War I and II. Not that I would have voted against declaring war in 1941; the comparison was to her isolation, not with her isolationism. READ MORE >>
