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A Foggy Bottom official wants to sit down with Iranian mullahs and Pyongyang's Dear Leader. If Richard Haass, an outgoing State Department official, has his way, President Bush's policy of isolating Iran and North Korea will be undermined. And if top-ranking officials at State have their way, Haass's successor will continue the Haass efforts.Between now and the end of June, two events will be unfolding side-by-side: Haass is going to attempt to find ways to "engage" the Iranian mullahs and Kim Jong-Il, and Foggy Bottom will be trying to replace him with someone who favors the same strategy — even...

Mainstream publications have fired another salvo of articles this week conveying a cratering outlook for Ukraine. Let’s take a run through the gamut to see just how urgently the tone has shifted, and what it portends. The first piece is from Foreign Affairs—the official journal of the CFR—written by CFR ex-president Richard Haass (remember him?). Note the deliberately chosen cemetery motif to define the tone: It lays out the urgency in no uncertain terms, using very direct language to exhort the U.S. and allies into immediately reorienting Ukraine’s posture from an offensive to a defensive one. Ukraine and the West...

Complete Headline: Head of Council on Foreign Relations: Don’t Reduce Immigration - Could Cause US Muslims to Become 'Threatening' Want to see a textbook example of the kind of thinking that leads to the fall of civilizations? View the video of Richard Haass, President of the Council Relations on today's Morning Joe. A clip was played of Donald Trump calling for a declaration of war against and repeating his call for the restriction of Muslim immigration, in particular Syrian "refugees" that we know little or nothing about. A hand-wringing Haass argues against "cutting down immigration" and other measures, because "our...

Want to see a textbook example of the kind of thinking that leads to the fall of civilizations? View the video of Richard Haass, President of the Council Relations on today’s Morning Joe. A clip was played of Donald Trump favoring a declaration of war and repeating his call for the restriction of Muslim immigration, in particular Syrian “refugees,” that we know little or nothing about. A hand-wringing Haass argued against “cutting down immigration” and other measures, because “our connections with entire populations and communities, our best measure of defense is making sure that people in these communities are working...

Both Iran and its Hamas proxy in Gaza have been busy this Christmas week showing Christendom just what they think of it. But no one seems to have noticed. On Tuesday, Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Shari'a criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, it legalizes crucifixion. Hamas's endorsement of nailing enemies of Islam to crosses came at the same time it renewed its jihad. Here, too, Hamas wanted to make sure that Christians didn't feel neglected as its fighters launched missiles at Jewish day care centers and schools. So on Wednesday, Hamas lobbed...

07 Jan 2009 Transition officials confirm that President-elect Obama has asked Dennis Ross, Richard Haass, and Richard Holbrooke, to serve as his chief emissaries to world hot spots. It's expected that Ross will get the Iran portfolio, that Holbrooke, the hard-headed architect of the Dayton Peace Accords, will take the tough (and tougher) Southwest Asia portfolio, which includes India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that Haass will deal with the Middle East.

Although the White House is poised to back away from misguided attempts to "engage" the Iranian mullahs, don't expect the State Department to play along. Just as State has undermined the president multiple times already on matters relating to every spoke of the "axis of evil," State most likely will continue talking to the mullahs. A recent Washington Post article gave an indication that Foggy Bottom officials may grudgingly embrace a new tough-on-Iran policy—if officially handed down by the White House—noting that State "appears inclined to accept such a policy." But history suggests otherwise. The State Department's top policy official,...

Brent Scowcroft, military assistant to President Nixon, and National Security Advisor to Presidents Ford and H.W. Bush, continues his attack on the bush foreign policy and Iraq War in an interview by Jeffrey Goldberg in The New Yorker (not available without subscription). In The Washington Note, Steven C. Clemons provides excerpts (here) from the interview: A principal reason that the Bush Administration gave no thought to unseating Saddam was that Brent Scowcroft gave no thought to it. An American occupation of Iraq would be politically and militarily untenable, Scowcroft told Bush. And though the President had employed the rhetoric of...

by Mark Finkelstein February 3, 2006 - 07:52 Let's give Today its due. It devoted extended coverage this morning to the growing nuclear threat from Iran. In Katie Couric's interview of Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, it was quickly established that Iran does indeed represent a serious danger. Much of the conversation involved a discussion of the various options - none of them ideal - to address the threat. One might argue that Haass' estimate that Iran is about five years away from acquiring a nuclear weapon could be dangerously optimistic, but he did not attempt...