Month: January 2002

I distinctly remember President Bush, when the war – or the bombing campaign, depending on how much of a stickler you are for constitutionally-declared wars and other anachronisms – was just beginning, promising quite specifically that the United States wasn’t going to get involved in "nation-building" in Afghanistan. No, no, we had learned our lessons … Continue reading “Nation-building or…”

Manacled, hooded, and shorn of their beards, Afghan captives are dragged to Guantanamo behind the chariots of the conquering Americans. The pundits and the court intellectuals salute the victor – "Hail Caesar!" – while the US avers that these are not prisoners of war, but "illegal combatants" – since anyone who raises their hand to … Continue reading “Gucci Goes To War”

Premier Zhu Rongji’s trip through India has produced the statements of cooperation and mutual development that every trip by any Chinese politician to any foreign country routinely elicits. More often than not, these statements do result in increased cooperation in tourism and trade. The difference with India is that the fractious democracy is the other … Continue reading “Room for Growth”

Noam Chomsky – the mere mention of his name drives the War Party wild. The voluble rightist David Horowitz has written himself into a frothy-mouthed frenzy denouncing "Mullah" Chomsky, and the web-artists over at Frontpagemag.com have had a field day fitting poor Noam with turbans and running screaming headlines about the "Ayatollah of the Left." … Continue reading “Manufacturing Dissent”

They are the mutant offspring of Virginia Postrel, Andrew Sullivan, and Ariel Sharon: meet the "warbloggers," internet mavens who see themselves as the trendiest of the trendy, the vanguard of the chattering classes, whose little "weblogs" (i.e. diaries) are supposed to be The Latest Thing. Many of them claim to be libertarians, and, simultaneously, they … Continue reading “The Warbloggers”

The French judge who has worked for seven apparently frustrating years trying to prove a persistent and sizable pattern of corruption by French President Jacques Chirac has resigned in frustration and given a blistering interview to the newspaper Le Parisien. Judge Eric Halphen says that the French justice system works only on behalf of the … Continue reading “Naming the Beast”

Amid the proclamations of a great and glorious victory by the pro-war pundits – and their smugly triumphant braying that opponents of this war were dead wrong about the "Afghan quagmire" – Reul Marc Gerecht injects a note of realism into the discussion by noting that the apparent failure to kill or capture Bin Laden … Continue reading “The Vanishing Imam”

On September 11, foreign terrorists killed several thousand people by destroying the World Trade Center and damaging the Pentagon. Some people considered this a criminal act – not an act of war by a foreign nation. They said the U.S. government should concentrate on finding, capturing, and bringing to trial anyone connected with the attacks. … Continue reading “What has ‘Victory’ Achieved?”

A Chinese Foreign Ministry official declared today that China will not engage in peacemaking efforts in South Asia. The conflict between Pakistan and India is an affair that should and will be resolved by the two longtime enemies and all China can do is offer "moral persuasion." The official, Ms. Fu Ying, emphasized the vital … Continue reading “No Peacemaker”

It was Christmas Day, and Walied Shatter, a bodyguard to the President of the United States, couldn’t get a flight to Dallas. Not that he didn’t have a reservation, or a ticket: both had been made and paid for by his employer, the Secret Service, well in advance. The problem was the pilot: no way … Continue reading “The Pilot Who Lost His Cool”