US
Robert Kaplan explains why ” target=”_blank”>long interview-piece with Henry Kissinger is a compelling read:
I also asked him about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. He is close to Clinton, but not to Trump, and it was not difficult to discern that he was appalled by Trump’s behavior and broadly sympathetic to Clinton. Whether or not Kissinger would endorse Clinton had been a subject of great speculation during the campaign. Some in the Clinton camp hoped Kissinger would—but others, I’d been told, worried that his endorsement would only reinforce the Sanders argument that Clinton was too close to various unsavory characters. Kissinger himself was acutely aware of this argument. When I observed that Clinton is dispositionally and ideologically closer to him than she is to Obama, Kissinger said, “If you say that, you’re not going to be kind to her.”
Israel
Mazal Mualem discusses ” target=”_blank”>as an opportunity for Israel:
Unlike previous administrations, which had a clear agenda before being elected, Israel is facing an administration with an undefined policy on Middle Eastern affairs. Israel’s conduct will be significant in determining the Trump administration’s policy.
Middle East
Aaron David Miller and Richard Sokolsky try to imagine what a ” target=”_blank”>whether the Iran deal is safe:
“That’s why I find it so hard to believe that the deal survives,” said Richard Nephew, a former State Department sanctions official who now heads the program on Economic Statecraft, Sanctions and Energy Markets at Columbia University. “At some point, [Trump] will have to make an affirmative decision to support its implementation.”
Jewish World
Adam Kirsch reviews historian ” target=”_blank”>Leonard Cohen’s 5 most Jewish Songs:
Even as a practicing Buddhist, Cohen never stopped thinking of himself as a Jew, telling an interviewer, “I’m not looking for new religion. I’m quite happy with the old one, with Judaism.” But he was ecumenical in his range of subjects and references. Cohen’s first hit, “Suzanne,” speaks of perhaps the most famous Jew, Jesus, saying, “he himself was broken, long before the sky would open. Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone.”
