January 25, 2012 | 4:27 am

Must Read, January 25, 2012

Posted by Shmuel Rosner

Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill, January 24, 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

Iran: Downplayed in President Obama’s State of the Union Speech

James Phillips of the conservative Heritage Foundation claims the amount of time Obama spent discussing Iran in his State of the Union address is indicative the White House’s failed policies.

“Given the Obama Administration’s lack of a forceful response to any of these challenges, the President’s promise to “take no options off the table” is sure to be regarded as an empty threat in Tehran.”

Fact check: Obama’s State of the Union Address 2012

USA Today looks at the truth behind Barack Obama’s statements in his State of the Union speech.

“Obama certainly has had his share of foreign policy successes over the last year. He followed through with a campaign promise to end the war in Iraq, a team of U.S. Navy SEALs hunted down and killed Osama bin Laden in May, and the U.S. supported a NATO-led operation in Libya that culminated with the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi. But at least one potential national security land mine lies ahead: Iran.”

The billionaire behind Newt

Robert Reich of Salon takes aim at the American campaign-finance rules, and speculates that Sheldon Adelson does not expect his generosity toward Newt Gingrich to go unrewarded.

“Do you know who Sheldon and Marian Adelson are? Do you know what Gingrich has promised them, or what they think they’ll get out of a Grinch presidency? I don’t. But if Newt becomes President of the United States, they’ll be singularly responsible. And we better find out, because Newt will owe them big time.”

The Army and the People Were Never One Hand

Max Strasser of Foreign Policy shines the spotlight on Maikel Nabil, a pro-Israel Egyptian blogger, jailed for warning against the power of the military during the revolution, but who ultimately turned out to be right.

“While most activists saw Hosni Mubarak and his cronies as their primary target, Nabil, a pacifist, bore a grudge against the Egyptian armed forces that stretched back before the revolution.”

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