Daniel Lazare

Daniel Lazare is the author of The Frozen Republic: How the Constitution Is Paralyzing Democracy (Harcourt Brace, 1996) and other books about American politics. He has written for a wide variety of publications from The Nation to Le Monde Diplomatique, and his articles about the Middle East, terrorism, Eastern Europe, and other topics appear regularly on such websites as Jacobin and The American Conservative.

Why the Khashoggi Affair Maybe the Biggest US Foreign Policy Crises Since Iran’s Revolution

By flooding Saudi Arabia with oil revenue and high-tech armaments and allowing it to attack whomever it pleases, the U.S. has contributed to an increasingly dangerous build-up of highly combustible forces.

Daniel Lazare
By Daniel Lazare
Mohammed bin Salman | Steven Mnuchin

If Donald Trump seems at a loss about how to respond to the Jamal Khashoggi murder, it may not be because he’s worried about his Saudi business investments or any of the other things that Democrats like to bring up to avoid talking about more serious topics. Rather, it’s likely because Trump may be facing one of the biggest U.S. foreign-policy

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The Spooks Spooking Themselves

As the role of a well-connected group of British and US intelligence agents begins to emerge, new suspicions are growing about what hand they may have had in weaving the Russiagate story.

Daniel Lazare
By Daniel Lazare
Spy Espionage

With the news that a Cambridge academic-cum-spy named Stefan Halper infiltrated the Trump campaign, the role of the intelligence agencies in shaping the great Russiagate saga is, at last, coming into focus. It’s looking more and more massive.  The intelligence agencies initiated reports that Donald Trump was colluding with Russia, they nurtured

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Is Trump Finally Learning Not To Challenge his Neocon Captors?

When Donald Trump is the sole remaining voice of reason, then we’re really in trouble.

Daniel Lazare
By Daniel Lazare
National security adviser John Bolton listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, April 9, 2018, in Washington. (AP/Evan Vucci)

What happens when an unthinkable war meets an unbeatable case of war fever?  Thanks to Russia-gate, unsubstantiated reports about the use of poison gas in Syria, and a slew of similar factoids and pseudo-scandals, the world may soon find out. In saner times, including during the Cold War at even its most heated, political leaders knew not to

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When Washington Cheered the Jihadists

Official Washington helped unleash hell on Syria and across the Mideast behind the naïve belief that jihadist proxies could be used to transform the region for the better.

Daniel Lazare
By Daniel Lazare
Syrian rebels attend a training session in Maaret Ikhwan near Idlib, Syria.

When a Department of Defense intelligence report about the Syrian rebel movement became public in May 2015, lots of people didn’t know what to make of it. After all, what the report said was unthinkable – not only that Al Qaeda had dominated the so-called democratic revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for years, but that the West

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As Syria Nears Victory Against Rebels, Israel Begins To Panic

Meddling by the U.S. and its allies was supposed to topple the Assad regime in Syria and give Israel a freer hand, but instead has brought Iran and other adversaries to Israel’s border, a risky moment.

Daniel Lazare
By Daniel Lazare
An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the border with Syria in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Nov. 28, 2016. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

There’s a rumor going around that the Syrian civil war is finally winding down and that the Baathist government is nearing its goal of driving out thousands of ISIS-Al Qaeda head-choppers financed and supplied – directly or indirectly – by the U.S., Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the other Persian Gulf oil monarchies It would be good news if

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How Saudi & Gulf Money Fuel Terrorism

With the death toll in the Paris terror attacks still rising, French President Hollande is condemning an “act of war” by the Islamic State, but the underlying reality is that France’s rich friends in the Persian Gulf are key accomplices in the mayhem.

Daniel Lazare
By Daniel Lazare
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, right, speaks with US President Barack Obama, during arrival ceremonies at the Royal Terminal of King Khalid International Airport, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, June 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

In the wake of the latest terrorist outrage in Paris, the big question is not which specific group is responsible for the attack, but who’s responsible for the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in the first place. The answer that has grown increasingly clear in recent years is that it’s Western leaders who have used growing portions of the Muslim world as

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