Antiwar.com

Once again, the latest twist in the never ending al-Qaeda saga has taken the West by surprise. It featured a renewed and shocking alliance between Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It is now clear that both men are united. To members and sympathizers of their fight, people scattered around the world, the words … Continue reading “A Deadly Duet”

Elderly citizens of Bulgaria’s capital say they can’t remember anything like this even in the 1970s, the time of the Brezhnev Doctrine that followed the 1968 Prague Spring events, when the country was gripped by harsh totalitarian rule. At 8:00 a.m. on April 25, two days before the arrival of the U.S. Secretary of State … Continue reading “Sofia Under Siege as
Condi Comes to Town”

Sometime in the mid-1990s, during the roaring days of globalization, the high-tech boom, and a soaring market, I published a commentary in the Business Times titled “One Bill’s Washington vs. the Other Bill’s Washington: Guess Who Is Winning?” I actually wrote the piece upon my returning from a visit to the Microsoft “campus” in Redmond, … Continue reading “If Only Bill Gates
Made Foreign Policy”

WASHINGTON – Two years after the abuse by U.S. soldiers of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq first came to light, accountability for what turns out to have been a widespread pattern of mistreatment at several detention sites, including torture and at least eight homicides, remains elusive, according to a new report released by … Continue reading “Impunity Endures Two Years After Abu Ghraib”

This weekend I received an e-mail from a friend in Iraq. It read, “Salam Dahr, I was in Ramadi today to ask about the situation. I was stunned for the news of a father and his three sons executed in cold blood by U.S. soldiers, then they blasted the house. The poor mother couldn’t stand … Continue reading “War Crimes and Consequences”

As an occasional past subscriber and more regular buyer of The Spectator, my recollection of the magazine was that it had improved over recent years. Having bought the April 15 issue on impulse, though, I was really quite shocked at the poor quality of the main editorial, “Our Own Cuban Missile Crisis” (access requires subscription). … Continue reading “Is the War Party Really Reduced to This?”

Life for Kurds in northern Iraq is about to get a lot more complicated. The Turkish army has begun massing troops on Iraq’s northern border in an effort to combat the Kurdish armed group the PKK. In the last week, the Turkish government has sent about 40,000 troops to southeastern Anatolia, bringing the total troops … Continue reading “Turkey Masses Troops
on Iraqi Border”

According to the new National Security Strategy of the United States of America promulgated in March 2006: “It is the policy of the United States to seek and support democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. In the world today, the fundamental character … Continue reading “It’s Not About Democracy”

As additional information on the firing of CIA official Mary McCarthy just 10 days short of her retirement becomes available, what is afoot is becoming quite clear. We are witnessing a Stalinesque show trial sans the actual trial and inevitable execution. The purpose is intimidation, not extermination. We should be thankful for small favors, I … Continue reading “McCarthyism: Mary and Joe”

John Fund, former editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal and now a familiar talking head on cable gabfests, used to hang out with libertarians. He even used to claim to be one. Back in the day, he would visit the offices of Libertarian Review to chat with the editor – the late Roy … Continue reading “John Fund vs. the Truth”