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A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

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Calculated Confusion Over Iran

JEWISH LIGHT EDITORIALPublished June 27, 2019

With his last-minute decision to back away from a military strike against Iran, President Donald Trump dodged a dangerous bullet for the United States and his own presidency. But despite the positive outcome, no one should be happy about the unorthodox...

Marty Rochester

Foreign policy debate needs bigger voice in 2020 campaign

By Marty RochesterPublished June 20, 2019

Did you know that the U.S. Air Force is the smallest it has been since 1947 and that we have the smallest navy in almost a century? Do you care? You may recall a slogan that Bill Clinton’s campaign used during his 1992 run for the presidency: “It’s...

Marty Rochester

Trying to make sense of Trump’s foreign policy

By Marty RochesterPublished October 25, 2018

Now in the second year of Donald Trump’s presidency, we are still trying to figure out what to make of his foreign policy. Clearly, he is not a “liberal internationalist” like Jimmy Carter, of the sort who strongly values international law and...

Taking Trump seriously, but not literally, in the Middle East

By Jonathan S. Tobin, JNS.orgPublished June 1, 2017

In a seminal piece for The Atlantic last September, journalist Salena Zito explained a simple truth that most people hadn’t grasped about the man who was about to be elected the 45th president of the United States. Simply put, his numerous critics took...

J. Martin Rochester, Curators’ Teaching Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, is author of 10 books on international and American politics, including  his latest book, “New Warfare: Rethinking Rules for An Unruly World.”

Buckle up for Trump’s foreign policy, whatever it is

By Marty RochesterPublished February 22, 2017

In the words on the cover of the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, it is now “Trump Time.” What are we to make of Donald Trump’s foreign policy, beyond the early tumult over refugees and other issues? What might it look like over the next four years?It...

Playing With Fire

Jewish Light EditorialPublished February 8, 2017

For anyone trying to evaluate President Donald Trump’s dizzying changes in U.S. foreign policy, it’s hard to separate the tweets from the chaff.Depending upon where one stands on the evolving Trump presidency, he is either deliberately attempting...

J. Martin Rochester, Curators’ Teaching Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, is author of 10 books on international and American politics, including the recently published “New Warfare: Rethinking Rules for An Unruly World.” In addition to teaching courses in international politics, international organization and law, and U.S. foreign policy, he has served as chair of the Political Science Dept. at UM-St. Louis.

The United Nations at 70: Another fork in the road

By Marty RochesterPublished October 26, 2016

In June, the Jewish Light reported the startling news that Israel had just been elected to chair the United Nations Legal Committee, the first time Israel was selected to head a U.N. permanent committee.  Perhaps it is time to take another look at an...

J. Martin Rochester, Curators’ Teaching Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, is author of 10 books on international and American politics, including the recently published  “New Warfare:  Rethinking Rules for An Unruly World.”  In addition to teaching courses in international politics, international organization and law, and U.S. foreign policy, he has served as chair of the Political Science Dept. at UM-St. Louis.

Trump, Clinton must clarify foreign policies

By Marty RochesterPublished September 21, 2016

Traditionally, most American presidential elections are not determined by voter concerns about foreign policy and which candidate can better keep America safe. To the extent that voters cast their ballots based on candidate issue-positions, as opposed...

Ben Cohen, senior editor of TheTower.org & The Tower Magazine, writes a weekly column for JNS.org on Jewish affairs and Middle Eastern politics. His writings have been published in Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. He is the author of “Some of My Best Friends: A Journey Through Twenty-First Century Antisemitism.”

Don’t give Japan a free pass on its wartime record

By Ben Cohen/JNS.orgPublished May 26, 2016

Despite leaving the world an unsafer place than when he found it, President Barack Obama isn’t shying away from busting those foreign policy taboos. The president who brought us a nuclear deal with the Iranian mullahs, and who gave Cuba’s fossilized...

Thorny Issues

Jewish Light EditorialPublished May 25, 2016

The question of whether World War III will happen in our lifetimes may well turn on whether the worst of the bad guys, such as Iran and North Korea, are rational actors or not and, sadly, we don’t know the answer.This constant undercurrent percolated...

In or Out?

Jewish Light EditorialPublished March 2, 2016

“Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.”— John F. Kennedy, news conference, April 21, 1961, after failure of Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba The foreign policy debate in this country often divides between those who advocate for greater...

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