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Military pressure may be needed to oust Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Saudi Arabia on Thursday. SNIP--- "Ultimately a combination of diplomacy and pressure will be needed to bring about a political transition. Military pressure particularly may be necessary given President Assad's reluctance to negotiate seriously."

John Kerry generally enters into diplomacy concerning Israel like a bull in a china shop; or, shall we say, like a Cossack in a sukkeh. (That is a simile that would have been familiar to Kerry’s Yiddish-speaking paternal grandparents, originally named Kohn.) It therefore came as no surprise when, in a nearly apopleptic outburst to a congressional committee on February 25, he assailed Benjamin Netanyahu for having the temerity to accept an invitation from the U. S. Congress to warn of the imminent danger of allowing Iran to acquire the capacity to develop and the ability to “deliver” nuclear weapons,...

In today's speech, Benjamin Netanyahu took a not-so-subtle shot at John Kerry: will the MSM notice? The Israeli PM otherwise went out of his way to be bi-partisan, finding ways to praise President Obama and even Harry Reid. But Kerry came in for a stinging swipe when Netanyahu said "last year, the same [Iranian foreign minister] Zarif, who charms Western diplomats, laid a wreath at the grave of Imad Mughniyeh. Imad Mughniyeh is the terrorist mastermind who spilled more American blood [at the Beirut Marine barracks bombing] than any other terrorist besides Osama bin Laden. I'd like to see someone...

For six years, President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been on a collision course over how to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions, a high-stakes endeavor both men see as a centerpiece of their legacies. The coming weeks will put the relationship between their countries, which otherwise remain stalwart allies, to one of its toughest tests. Netanyahu is bound for Washington for an address to Congress on Tuesday aimed squarely at derailing Obama's cherished bid for a diplomatic deal with Tehran. At the same time, Secretary of State John Kerry and other international negotiators will be in Switzerland...

When protests broke out in Syria in late 2011, Russia hoped for a short, nasty war as a matter of Russian national interest -- just enough to put the Muslim Brotherhood and assorted Sunnis in their place. Violence from its own Sunni Muslim population has plagued Russia for decades. Saudi Arabia took over the defeated nationalist Chechen rebellion in the late 1990s, infusing it with money and Islamist overtones, prompting the second Chechen war. More recently, there has been open fighting and rioting in Moscow between Muslims and Slavs. Iran counted on a short war as well -- something to...

John Kerry negotiated directly with North Vietnamese communists in Paris before and while Henry Kissinger tried to get us out of Vietnam without destroying the South Vietnamese left behind when our troops abandoned that country. In that of course, he followed several years of violently and very publicly protesting the Vietnam War after spending only 91 days overseas. In both of these, he was obviously opposing official US policy, and by meeting with the enemy deliberately and while official negotiations were going on, he was deliberately sabotaging the official US position. But that was not the only time, nor the...

MONTREUX, Switzerland (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry quietly cautioned Israel not to undercut nuclear negotiations with Iran that resumed on Monday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to make the case in Washington against the diplomacy. Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met for about 90 minutes on the first of what could be three days of talks in the Swiss lakeside town of Montreux on curbing Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. The two men, along with U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Iranian atomic energy chief Ali Akbar...

US Secretary of State, John Kerry, warned that public talks on the formulating nuclear deal with Iran will make it exceedingly difficult for the US to prevent Ian from developing nuclear abilities. Kerry stated that he is concerned by reports that details of the nuclear talks will be exposed in the next few days. .....

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives at Geneva International airport, Sunday, March 1, 2015. (photo credit: AP/Evan Vucci, Pool) Top US diplomat John Kerry arrived in Switzerland late Sunday for tough talks on Iran and Ukraine, and to push Moscow’s foreign minister to ensure a “credible” probe into the shooting of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov

Sen. John McCain is charging the Obama administration’s foreign policy is “delusional” and says Secretary of State John Kerry’s global diplomacy has “accomplished nothing except mileage.” In an appearance on MSNBC, the Arizona Republican also calls Russian President Vladimir Putin a “meglomaniac” and “pariah.”

Secretary of State John Kerry is awfully frustrated with House Speaker John Boehner’s decision to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress this Tuesday. Here’s what Kerry had to say about Boehner’s daring invitation Sunday morning on ABC’s "This Week: “It was odd, if not unique, that we learned of it from the speaker of the House and that an administration was not included in this process," he said. "But the administration is not seeking to politicize this.” While insisting the White House has no political desires in regards to the foreign leaders' appearance (Kerry said they don't want it to...

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will defend Israel at a U.N. human rights body on Monday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to criticize nuclear negotiations with Iran that the top diplomat is leading. Kerry landed in Geneva late on Sunday for up to three days of talks with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on a deal to restrain the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions on Tehran. The talks will be held in Montreux. In addition, Kerry will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday to discuss Iran, Syria and...

Last night President Obama hosted a dinner of "foreign policy experts" to get advice about his ISIS plans. Among the guests were Sandy Berger, a man who got caught stealing federal documents; Strobe Talbott a man whose employer receives major funding from the terrorist-funding government of Qatar, and Zbigniew Brzezinski a man who was involved in creating both the Islamist state of Iran and the Taliban....Samuel R. Berger and Zbigniew Brzezinski, advised Democratic presidents during foreign crises: Mr. Berger, while Bill Clinton was weighing airstrikes in Bosnia and Kosovo; Mr. Brzezinski, while Jimmy Carter was dealing with the Iran hostage...

Senior members of the Likud party – including, some say, even the most senior of them – are keeping their fingers crossed for President Barack Obama. They hope that he won’t fall ill, that he won’t fly off to some distant continent, that a cat won’t get his tongue, and that he won’t become suddenly faint-hearted about the escalating confrontation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As in the well-known joke about the sadist and the masochist, the Likudniks are eager to continue being pummeled by Obama directly or by his secretary of state or by his national security adviser. They’ve...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday tried to calm tensions with Israel before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's congressional address, yet insisted the Obama administration's diplomatic record with Iran entitles the U.S. to "the benefit of the doubt" as negotiators work toward a long-term nuclear deal.

Secretary of State John Kerry touted the US’ relationship with Israel, arguing “we have a closer relationship with Israel right now, in terms of security, than at anytime in history” on Sunday’s “This Week” on ABC. “We have a closer relationship with Israel right now, in terms of security, than at anytime in history. I was reviewing the record the other day. We have intervened on Israel’s behalf in the last two years, more than several hundred, a couple of hundred times, in over 75 different different fora in order to protect Israel. I talk to the prime minister regularly, including...

Secretary of State John Kerry said today he stands by his statement that Americans are facing fewer daily threats, even though he's received heavy criticism for his remarks. In an exclusive interview with ABC News' Martha Raddatz on "This Week," explained the rationale behind his claims to Congress earlier this week, which came at the same time Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, said this has been the most lethal year for global terrorism. "Well, I understand," he said. "Of course I understand it, Martha, because people are thinking about the day-to-day vision of what is happening on the...

The Talk Shows March 1st, 2015 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis.; Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Reps. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.; retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2016.FACE THE NATION (CBS): House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio; former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.THIS WEEK (ABC): Secretary of State John Kerry.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Feinstein; former Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas; Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States.

The back and forth banter between Israel and the United States over Iran’s nuclear aspirations continued on Wednesday, as Secretary of State John Kerry questioned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s judgment when it comes to Iran. The comments, according to The Huffington Post, came as Kerry was testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Committee member Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) pointed to Netanyahu’s upcoming address to the Congress as evidence of the weakness of the deal being negotiated between Iran and the six world powers. “The Prime Minister was also profoundly forward-leaning and very outspoken about the importance of invading Iraq...

That’s some nuanced nuance right there. The ISIS Jihadists just want to join John Kerry for a meal at a fancy restaurant. Maybe he can invite them on over. Kerry introduced the topic of what motivates terror recruits. “Why do people make what to many of us would seem to be an utterly wrongheaded choice and become the kind of terrorists that we’re seeing?” he asked. “It’s a question that we need to approach with humility, but also with determination, because you cannot defeat what you don’t understand.” “Certainly, there is no single answer,” Kerry continued. “In our era, poisonous...