Clifford May, Robert Zarate, David North, and Fred Fleitz

Foundation for Defense of Democracies President CLIFFORD MAY critiques a recent article by Robert Kaplan, arguing that Islamists are united by their religion rather than by blood ties. May cites the hostility of Egyptian Islamists towards Egyptian Christians, with whom they share thousands of years of history and family ties, as an example. ROBERT ZARATE, of the Foreign Policy Initiative, explains the impact that the threat of sequestration has already had on the U.S. military. Namely, the people in charge of national defense are unable to plan, and concern about the availability of funds harms our efforts to keep up with foreign militaries, such as China's. DAVID NORTH of the Center for Immigration Studies discusses the dangers posed by the failure of ICE's Student and Exchange Visitor Program department to adequately screen foreigners who attempt to come to the U.S. on student visas. Lignet.com's managing editor FRED FLEITZ talks about prospects for post-Chavez Venezuela.