Latest Articles

The Fragility of the Global Financial Order

March 3, 2015  •  Wall Street Journal Europe

The U.S. Treasury has, over the past decade, been at the forefront of waging economic warfare against rogue actors. President Barack Obama has used sanctions to combat Iran's nuclear program, punish Russian aggression against Ukraine, squeeze the Assad regime in Syria and prevent the flow of funds to terror groups such as the Islamic State and al Qaeda.

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Huge Verdict Is the Price the Palestinian Authority Pays for Not Controlling the PLO

February 24, 2015  •  New York Times, Room for Debate

The verdict on Monday revealed what we long knew: The Palestinian Authority's bureaucracy is terribly vulnerable to the corruption and violent whims of the Fatah faction and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

It was Yasir Arafat, along with his cronies within the P.L.O. and Fatah, who made the fateful decision to redirect Palestinian Authority money — including international donor funds — to finance irregular warfare against Israel during the second intifada, of 2000-2005.

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Washington's Bad Military Bets in the Middle East

February 23, 2015  •  Huffington Post Blog

Last month, the Houthis took over Yemen, delivering a blow to Washington's counterterrorism strategy, which held out Yemen as one of the few bright spots in an otherwise chaotic Middle East. Adding insult to injury, as Washington took steps to shutter its embassy earlier this month, the Houthis took all U.S. embassy vehicles parked at the airport in Sanaa, and even confiscated the weapons of departing U.S. Marines.

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A Resurgent Terrorist Threat in Turkey

February 5, 2015  •  Wall Street Journal Europe

Turkey has long fought Kurdish insurgents within its borders, and the country now faces a severe jihadist threat in part due to Ankara's reckless policy of allowing jihadists to exploit its border with Syria. Yet it's a little-known far-left terrorist outfit that has recently emerged as Turkey's most active terror threat, and nobody seems to have noticed.

The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front, or DHKP/C, is a Marxist-Leninist organization that seeks to spark a communist revolution in Turkey. Founded in 1994, its roots date back to the radical leftist movements of the 1970s. In its various forms, the group has targeted high-level Turkish political and military figures.

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The Palestinian Authority's International Criminal Court Gambit
A True Partner for Peace?

February 4, 2015  •  House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa

Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member Deutch, members of the Committee, on behalf of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), thank you for inviting me to testify today.

After a decade of successful efforts to gain support from the international community for recognition of statehood, the Palestinians are now poised to leverage their gains and wage lawfare at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The goal for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has been the same throughout this campaign: to force the Israelis to relinquish territory or other meaningful concessions, and to do so outside the scope of bilateral negotiations.

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Books by Jonathan Schanzer