Subscribe to FDD

Analysis & Commentary - Emanuele Ottolenghi

Emanuele Ottolenghi's Latest Articles

9th July 2012 – Commentary

The Muslim Brotherhood Owns Egypt

Emanuele Ottolenghi

When the Arab Spring bug caught on in Egypt, in late January 2011, commentators rushed to explain that the Tahrir Square crowd was hip and Western, secular and “facebooked.” more...

2nd July 2012 – Commentary

One More Lesson From Shamir

Emanuele Ottolenghi

Jonathan did a great service to our readers in his eulogy of Yitzhak Shamir. I would like to add one more lesson we, in the West, should take from this great man’s lifelong political career. more...

2nd July 2012 – Longitude - The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Syrian Conundrum

Emanuele Ottolenghi

As the Syrian uprising enters its 17thmonth and the casualty toll mounts dramatically,Western inability to address the crisis, beyond strong rhetoric and sanctions, risks further harming Western interests in the region. more...

28th June 2012 – Standpoint

Yes We Still Can

Emanuele Ottolenghi

In 1999, as America prepared to enter the new century, French leaders decried its rising status as a "hyperpower". A hyperpower, explained then French foreign minister Hubert Védrine, is one that is so dominant in all spheres, that there is no counterbalance. more...

14th June 2012 – The Jewish Chronicle

Iran Talks Resemble Mood Swings of a Manic Depressive

Emanuele Ottolenghi

In recent weeks, public discussion about ongoing negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 — the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany — has experienced the same mood swings of a manic depressive. more...

12th June 2012 – The Australian

The West Plays the Cuckold and Ignores Evidence of Iran’s Infidelity

Emanuele Ottolenghi

AS negotiations over Iran's nuclear program are about to resume in Moscow next Monday, Western leaders insist that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has yet to make a decision about whether to build nuclear weapons... more...

6th June 2012 – Commentary

In Nuclear Talks, Iran Plays the Victim Card

Emanuele Ottolenghi

With the third round of nuclear talks approaching, Iranian senior figures are taking turns to the airwaves to present a well-rehearsed, grievance-filled version of the issues at stake in their current nuclear standoff with the international community. more...

4th June 2012 – Commentary

OPEC Battle Ahead for Iran

Emanuele Ottolenghi

When OPEC meets later this month for its ministers’ summit, price-hawk Iran will confront a new reality – for the first time since the beginning of international sanctions against the regime in Tehran, oil prices are in free fall. more...

31st May 2012 – The Times of Israel

The Real ‘Spring’ is Not Arab

Emanuele Ottolenghi

Buried beneath the news’ cycle of the Arab Spring is a much overlooked and potentially revolutionary fact – the real “spring” under way across the lands of the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and North Africa is not Arab. more...

30th May 2012 – Commentary

“The Sword On Our Neck”

Emanuele Ottolenghi

Remember when Meir Dagan, upon leaving office as head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, gave a briefing to the press, where he warned against hasty military decisions and said that “Israel should not hasten to attack Iran, doing so only when the sword is upon its neck”? more...

30th May 2012 – Standpoint

European Profligacy

Emanuele Ottolenghi

In his 1992 book The Culture of Contentment John Kenneth Galbraith said the cyclical failure of political systems to recognise and adapt to paradigm shifts was caused by the comfort of their beneficiaries. more...

24th May 2012 – The Jewish Chronicle

Sorry Baroness Ashton, Iran Won’t Concede in Baghdad

Emanuele Ottolenghi

When, over a year ago, tensions began to publicly surface between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, the Western press concluded that Ahmadinejad was the more moderate element. more...

21st May 2012 – Commentary

Alleged Iranian Spy Was Scapegoated

Emanuele Ottolenghi

Last week, Iranian blogger Potkin Azarmehr questioned the authenticity of reports that Iran had executed Majid Jamali Fashi, the 24-year-old Iranian accused of carrying out the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Massoud-Ali Mohammadi. more...

21st May 2012 – Commentary

Iran Decided Long Ago on Nuclear Weapons

Emanuele Ottolenghi

Michael Rubin has referenced important statements, recent and past, made by senior Iranian officials on Iran’s nuclear program and its ambitions. To this important list, I would add the following. more...

10th May 2012 – The Journal of International Security Affairs

Clumsy Assassins

Emanuele Ottolenghi

When, last October, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the FBI and DEA had thwarted a plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States by planting a bomb in a Washington, DC restaurant... more...

9th May 2012 – The Commentator

Of Masterstrokes and Apoplectic Strokes

Emanuele Ottolenghi

Netanyahu has strengthened his hand significantly but not for the reasons spouted by the left more...

7th May 2012 – Haaretz

Nukes and a Fatwa

Emanuele Ottolenghi

In the same week that Iranian nuclear negotiators in Istanbul mentioned an alleged fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banning nuclear weapons to offer reassurances about Iran’s peaceful nuclear intentions. more...

4th May 2012 – Commentary

Beinart’s Argument Was Already Debunked

Emanuele Ottolenghi

As a further thought to Michael Rubin’s response to Joe Klein’s defense of Peter Beinart, it is not true that nobody has yet replied to Peter Beinart’s demographic argument. First of all, the argument is not Peter Beinart’s. more...

25th April 2012 – Standpoint

March on Syria

Emanuele Ottolenghi

The Assad dynasty is not content with slaughtering its own people in great numbers. It is also destroying Syria's rich archaeological past. Writing last month in the US Weekly Standard, Victoria Coates described the devastation in detail. more...

24th April 2012 – Middle East Quarterly

Gary Sick, Discredited but Honored

Emanuele Ottolenghi

The so-called "October Surprise" plot that briefly enthralled the American public twenty years ago is one of the most influential political conspiracy theories in U.S. history. more...