When Obama announced the Iran nuclear deal, he explained the rationale for taking the diplomatic path. There were, he said, three options: negotiate as good a deal as we can get; pull out of the talks; or else take military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, igniting another Middle East war. Turns out these boil down to only two options, really, since pulling out of talks, according to Obama, would also end up leading to military action. So, if the options are diplomacy versus going to war, you can see why Obama’s case has swayed some people. But that argument hinges on a tendentious framing of the possibilities.
Today The Undercurrent published an extensive interview with ARI's Onkar Ghate on the tension between religion and free speech, today’s atmosphere of self-censorship and the meaning of free speech.
Don’t miss an all new episode of The Yaron Brook Show this Monday, May 11, in which Yaron will discuss Israel’s fight to defend itself from its aggressors.
Peter Bergen argues in a piece for CNN, that it was inevitable that one day actual violence over speech that Muslims find offensive would reach our shores. Now it’s happened. On Sunday, two gunmen opened fire at the “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest” in Garland, Texas. Police shot and killed the two gunmen. One security guard was injured, but it appears the injuries were not serious. We can be thankful for that. Must Americans now become accustomed to this sort of violence?
Imagine you’re a foreign journalist in Israel, and one day, visiting Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem, you observe this scene: men clad all in black stand in military formation, lifting their right arms in a Nazi-style salute. They stand with their boots on Israeli flags, draped on the ground. Nearby, actors play dead Israeli soldiers. Behind the first formation, another row of men carry banners of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The rally, in support of that jihadist group, draws hundreds of university students. Some of them return the Nazi-style salute. Al-Quds University, a mainstream institution, has had partnerships with Brandeis and Bard Universities.
I’ve recently given a couple talks called “Free Speech Under Siege” in which I argue that the primary threat to free speech today comes not from terrorist attacks, such as those in Paris in January, but from an unwillingness to defend free speech as a right. That’s not to say terrorist attacks aren’t significant — ask Flemming Rose or cartoonist Molly Norris how free they feel to speak after being threatened with death for daring to publish drawings of Muhammad. My point is that the threats and killings can only succeed in chilling our speech if we let them. One way we do that is by appeasing those who resort to threats and violence.
On today’s episode of The Yaron Brook Show, ARI’s Elan Journo guest hosted. Elan interviewed Rituparna Basu, ARI’s health care policy analyst, about Obamacare.
Tune in Monday, March 30 for an all new episode of The Yaron Brook Show. Elan Journo will once again guest host. Topics will include: a wide-ranging conversation with Rituparna Basu about what Obamacare is doing to American health care five years after its passage, and where it is taking us in the years ahead; what’s causing the wars raging across the Middle East.
On the last episode of The Yaron Brook Show, ARI’s Elan Journo filled in for Yaron, who is traveling in South America. If you missed the episode, listen below to hear Elan’s take on the latest foreign policy issues in the Middle East.
Tune in Monday, March 23 for an all new episode of The Yaron Brook Show. Elan Journo, ARI’s director of policy research and an expert in foreign policy, will guest host. Monday marks five years since Obamacare was signed into law. Elan will interview Rituparna Basu, ARI’s health care policy analyst, about the passage of Obamacare, its effects so far and where American health care is heading. Elan will also talk about the latest foreign policy issues in the Middle East.
