The Campaign to Pacify Sunni Iraq

In the first of a two-part dispatch, “Disintegrating Iraqi Sovereignty,” Michael Schwartz explored Iraq’s missing “sovereignty.” Most of us take sovereignty for granted, but under the pressure of invasion, occupation, destruction, and arrogance as well as increasing ethnic/religious strife and rippling chaos, it has proved ever harder to bring to bear in Iraq. Schwartz explored … Continue reading “The Campaign to Pacify Sunni Iraq”

Rest Easy, Bill Clinton: Milosevic Can’t Talk Anymore

Slobodan Milosevic is characterized in the obituaries as the "Butcher of the Balkans." If that is the story you want to read about, please go to almost any other media outlet and read it again and again. Some are now suggesting that death is Milosevic’s final revenge, that he "ended up cheating history" by dying … Continue reading “Rest Easy, Bill Clinton: Milosevic Can’t Talk Anymore”

Rest Easy, Bill Clinton: Milosevic Can’t Talk Anymore

Slobodan Milosevic is characterized in the obituaries as the "Butcher of the Balkans." If that is the story you want to read about, please go to almost any other media outlet and read it again and again. Some are now suggesting that death is Milosevic’s final revenge, that he "ended up cheating history" by dying … Continue reading “Rest Easy, Bill Clinton: Milosevic Can’t Talk Anymore”

Was Serbia a Practice Run for Iraq?

On March 11, the former Serbian leader and president of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, died in his prison cell at The Hague, where he had been on trial for four years and one month for war crimes and genocide. The Serbian Socialist Party leader Zoran Andjelkovic responded to the news of Milosevic’s death with the following … Continue reading “Was Serbia a Practice Run for Iraq?”

The Shame and the Sorrow

Like the Bourbons, famously described by Talleyrand as having learned nothing and forgotten nothing, the neocons have few regrets over the widening debacle in Iraq. Oh, some have published limited mea culpas, but these are merely extended exercises in excuse-making, and don’t really confront the intrinsic folly of the policy that guided our actions. The … Continue reading “The Shame and the Sorrow”

Mass Casualties in Collapse of Port Deal

Pres. George W. Bush’s fast-waning political authority is far and away the biggest immediate casualty in what the Wall Street Journal Friday called “a debacle of the first order.” But the U.S. “war on terror” may also have suffered a major blow from what is widely perceived as a gratuitous slap in the face given … Continue reading “Mass Casualties in Collapse of Port Deal”

US Firms Fear Blowback on Ports Debacle

U.S. lawmakers who killed a deal that would have transferred management of terminals in six U.S. ports to an Arab company say they will forge ahead with legislation targeting foreign ownership of critical U.S sectors. The plans sent shockwaves through U.S. business groups, who are worried that such a move could discourage international investment in … Continue reading “US Firms Fear Blowback on Ports Debacle”

More Bushlet Diplomacy

Last week Broad and Sanger made a characteristically misleading – but sometimes uncharacteristically revealing – report in the New York Times with respect to what would transpire in the aftermath of the March meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Their report began this way: “When Iran defiantly cut the … Continue reading “More Bushlet Diplomacy”

How I Stopped Worrying…

So what should the United States and the West do about Iran’s effort to acquire nuclear technology and (almost certainly) eventually a nuclear weapon? Kenneth Waltz has convinced me that for the sake of reduction of conflict and war, the best thing we can do is – well, pretty much nothing. Let’s face it, the … Continue reading “How I Stopped Worrying…”

China Uneasy Over US Nuclear Policies

BEIJING – With the dispute over Iran’s controversial nuclear program moving this week to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the stage is set for a perilous confrontation between the Islamic republic and the international community – a showdown that not only Tehran but also world powers like China and Russia have fought to avoid. … Continue reading “China Uneasy Over US Nuclear Policies”