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| washingtonpost.com - David Ignatius -- Washington Post Columnist (washingtonp...
David Ignatius writes about international affairs and U.S. foreign policy for The Washington Post op-ed page.
DAMASCUS -- Of all the wild cards in the Middle East deck, this one may be the most intriguing: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appears ready for direct peace talks with Israel, if the United States will join France as a co-sponsor.
As the Democrats assemble in Denver, there's an odd dissonance to the party. The star of the show is "Mr. Cool," Barack Obama, the ultra-charismatic senator who landed on the national stage as if from outer space -- seemingly untouched by the usual racial and political scars -- promising a new era of bipartisanship and national healing.
It was February 2006 in Munich, and John McCain's eyes were flashing with the mischievous spark that comes when he's about to fire a verbal rocket. "I've got a zinger coming," he told me, referring to a speech on Russia he would give a few hours later at the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy.
Defense Secretary Bob Gates has been talking recently about how to rebuild America's national security architecture so that it fits the 21st century. The next president should think about assigning Gates to fix what he rightly says is broken.
Analysts speculate about the danger of a U.S. or Israeli military attack on Iran before the Bush administration departs office next January. But if you read the tea leaves carefully, the evidence is actually pointing in the opposite direction.
In the dog days of summer, John McCain's political personality has become so fuzzy that even some Republicans are worrying about his viability. But if you want a reminder of why McCain should be a formidable candidate, take another look at his remarkable 1999 autobiography, "Faith of My Fathers."
With characteristic self-absorption, Americans are looking at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's recent statements about a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops in terms of our 2008 presidential election. We should see this issue instead in terms of Iraqi history.
It's the season for peace talks in the Middle East, as the region watches the clock and waits for the departure of the Bush administration. Some of what's going on is real and some of it is illusion, but to a student of diplomatic intrigue all of it is interesting. So here's a brief guide to the Syrian and Iranian negotiating tracks:
Henry Paulson was in shirt sleeves yesterday afternoon in his office at the Treasury Department, tie loose at the collar, feet propped up on the coffee table. Behind his desk, Bloomberg screens were blinking out instant price quotations from the turbulent financial markets, but Paulson wasn't focused on the short term for a change. He was discussing the long-term structural reforms he hopes will bring greater stability.
What are we taxpayers getting for our money as we bail out the geniuses who have run some of our leading financial institutions into the ground? The Treasury is extending a reported $300 billion line of credit to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but what do we receive in return?
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