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Australia should place unilateral sanctions on Iran

July 15, 2019  •  Sydney Morning Herald

"Already, there is too much loose talk of war," said then-US President Barack Obama in 2012. Seven years later, that statement continues to ring true, particularly when reading analysis of US-Iran policy. In these pages, scholars are continuing to epitomise such "loose talk", putting forth a legal argument against Australia joining America in a conflict against Iran.

Fortunately for now and the foreseeable future, there is no war for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to join. America continues to call for diplomacy, even as the regime bombs vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, and even as it shoots down American drones in international skies.

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Why the United States should sanction the mastermind of China's crackdown on the Uighurs

July 9, 2019  •  Washington Post

The trade war between China and the United States — and recent talk of possible compromises in the trade talks between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping — has sent markets on a roller coaster ride. But whatever Trump and Xi agree to on trade, the United States must not compromise on the challenge of Chinese human rights abuses.

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What the US and Israel can expect from next week's meeting with Russia

June 20, 2019  •  The Hill

At a memorial ceremony in Israel on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would next week host a formal meeting with three national security advisors: John Bolton from the U.S., Nicolay Patrushev from Russia, and Meir Ben Shabbat from Israel. Netanyahu noted his hope that the summit would enhance stability in the Middle East.

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review of Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History

June 17, 2019  •  Middle East Quarterly

In February 2019, two Israelis found a 1,900-year-old coin from the time of the Jewish Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans (132-35 C.E.) in an area southwest of Jerusalem. Inscribed on one side of the coin were the words the "second year to the freedom of Israel."

This kind of evidence connecting the Jewish people to the land of Israel is exactly what Nur Masalha seeks to undermine in his new book, a dense and redundant effort to undercut what he calls "the foundational myths of Zionism."

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Trump Can't Afford to Go Soft on Turkey

May 16, 2019  •  Wall Street Journal

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may be playing dumb, but he's not stupid.

The strongman plunked down a deposit for Russia's advanced S-400 air-defense system in December 2017—months after Congress passed a law that triggers painful U.S. sanctions on governments that purchase Russian armaments. Now Mr. Erdogan wants an exemption, and he apparently believes President Trump is inclined to give him one. Mr. Trump likely cannot do so without congressional approval. But even if he could, he shouldn't.

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Books by Jonathan Schanzer