Senior Fellow Peter Berkowitz discussed his Real Clear Politics piece, “U.S. Must Strongly Affirm Israel's Right of Self-Defense,” on the nationally syndicated John Batchelor Show.

“I was held for seven years as a political prisoner,” explained the soft-spoken 20-something woman from Burma (also known as Myanmar). “I want to understand freedom in America,” she continued with hopeful eyes and a determined voice, “so I can help people in my country.”

TEL AVIV -- The controversy that flared up in November over the introduction in the Knesset of a proposal to enshrine in Basic Law -- enactments possessing constitutional status -- the proposition that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people has swiftly come and gone.

In mid-May, freelance journalist Ahmed Abu Artema, an organizer of "Gaza’s Great Return March," emphasized in a New York Times op-ed the peaceful intentions of a movement that has sparked violence since late-March and led to dozens of Palestinians killed and thousands injured by Israel in defense of its border.

There are many military solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the problem is that none of them are particularly good outcomes. In fact, they are so draconian as to admit the proposition that there is no practical or sustainable solution that is solely military. That, however, is the case for most wars. Any war that stops short of killing every single member of the opposing society accepts a political solution.

What to make of US-Russian relations? 

At Hoover's 2014 Fall Retreat, Michael Mcfaul, the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at Hoover, discussed the US-Russia relationship in a talk entitled “Our New Confrontation with Russia: Causes and Consequences.”

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The premise of this show is simple: Peter Robinson poses five questions to Dr. Kotkin: what Xi Jinping, the president of China believes; what Vladimir Putin believes; whether nuclear weapons are a deterrent in the 21st century; the chances of another American renewal; and Kotkin’s rational basis for loving the United States. It’s a fascinating conversation that delves deep into one of the country’s brightest minds.

U.S. disengagement from Middle Eastern affairs, highlighted by the Obama administration’s withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, its failure to lead an international stability force in Libya after the overthrow of the Qaddafi regime, and its unwillingness to enforce self-proclaimed red lines in Syria, has reduced U.S. influence in the region to an all-time low.