Antiwar.com

As the UN Security Council comes to grips with the issue of Iran’s determination to join the nuclear club, and the question becomes the focus of a debate in the U.S. similar to that which preceded the invasion and occupation of Iraq, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a letter to President George W. Bush … Continue reading “Letter From Tehran”

If President Bush had any foresight at all, he’d intervene in the Darfur mayhem just to slice a wedge in the antiwar movement. President Nixon attempted to do such a thing in the early 1970s when his administration helped establish the Environmental Protection Agency. Nixon thought the antiwar movement at the time was largely made … Continue reading “Save Darfur?”

I‘m currently a life member of the John Birch Society and formerly served on the staff of the organization for 13 years. So why should any left-winger reading this care a fig about what I have to say? Because of a conversation I had with another conservative magazine writer recently. In frustration at the unconstitutional … Continue reading “Now Is the Time for
a Left-Right Alliance”

Monday’s nomination by U.S. President George W. Bush of Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to take over the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from the hapless Porter Goss has predictably intensified speculation over what is really going on behind the scenes. Most analysts see the shifts as the latest battle between the director of national intelligence … Continue reading “Cui Bono? Negroponte or Rumsfeld?”

“[N]o legitimate interest is served when oil and gas become tools of intimidation or blackmail, either by supply management or attempt to monopolize transportation,” thundered Vice President Cheney to the international pro-democracy conference in Vilnius, Lithuania. “[N]o one can justify actions that undermine the territorial integrity of a neighbor, or interfere with democratic movements.” Cheney’s … Continue reading “Why Are We Baiting Putin?”

The Bush administration’s intelligence reorganization, based on the deified recommendations of the 9/11 Commission to expand the intelligence bureaucracy, is an abysmal failure. A second reorganization is needed that will streamline and consolidate the multi-headed hydra that is the U.S. intelligence community. The failure to detect the 9/11 terrorist plot largely stemmed from the improper … Continue reading “The Intelligence Reorganization Needs Reorganizing”

Sixty South Korean activists will face criminal after they attacked police as part of a thousand-strong protest against a government plan to expand a U.S. military base in Pyongtaek, about an hour’s drive south of Seoul. According to press reports, clashes came after Army engineers on Thursday cordoned off two townships about 70 km south … Continue reading “Korean Farmers Clash With the Empire”

Either most members of the media elite have a reading comprehension problem – which would necessarily result in low scores for them on standard IQ tests – or they deliberately misrepresent to you what they have read. Now, that’s not too serious when you can determine for yourself whether they are dolts or liars. But … Continue reading “Dolts or Liars”

The burning issue in Washington today is high gas prices, and it won’t go away anytime soon. Americans are not happy about paying $3 per gallon at the pump, and they want something done about it. But price controls won’t work, and allegations of price gouging and "windfall profits" amount to nothing more than congressional … Continue reading “Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy, and Gas Prices”

"Hold ’em, Yale" is one of the best short stories of Guys and Dolls creator Damon Runyon, who depicted the New York City underworld in the 1920s. The story deals with an undercover operation to scalp ducats before the annual Yale-Harvard football game. It begins: "What I am doing in New Haven on the day … Continue reading “My Meeting With Rumsfeld”