Month: April 2004

“For me it began in far-off Mesopotamia now called Irak, that land of Biblical names and history, of vast deserts and date groves, scorching suns and hot winds, the land of Babylon, Baghdad and the Garden of Eden, where the rushing Euphrates and the mighty Tigris converge and flow down to the Persian Gulf.” “It … Continue reading “Iraq: Lessons of an Old Guerrilla Fighter”

MOSCOW – A year ago, U.S.-led coalition forces toppled the statute of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. The past two years have seen a remarkable shift in U.S. foreign policy. Parallel to this shift is Russia’s changing foreign policy under President Vladimir Putin. It is said that those who do not remember the past are condemned … Continue reading “Illusion of the Profound in Political Strategy”

While the United States does not look quite yet like the "pitiful, helpless giant" that tortured Richard Nixon’s imagination during the Vietnam War, the past week’s events seem to have moved it very much in that direction. The week, which was supposed to culminate in celebrations of the first anniversary of Baghdad’s "liberation" by U.S. … Continue reading “One, Two, Many Messes”

The Guangzhou Daily is the flagship of China’s newspaper industry. Launched just after Liberation by the Guangzhou Party Committee, the Daily spent 40 years as a Party organ, toeing the Party line, bringing the CPC’s views to the people. The Daily was the first of China’s papers to begin fending for itself in 1990, setting … Continue reading “The Price of Stability”

AP reported that the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) issued a demand early on Saturday that the US cease its military action against Fallujah and stop employing “collective punishment.” Not only has what many Iraqis call “the puppet council” taken a stand against Bush administration tactics in Iraq, but individual members are peeling off. Shiite … Continue reading “US-Appointed Iraqi Government Close to Collapse?”

The Bush administration, I fear, is severely learning-disabled. Rational people, acting as individuals or as a group, learn from their mistakes. They gather data, they make decisions, and they take actions. Then they assess the feedback from reality and adjust. For example, if you rely on a person and learn that he or she has … Continue reading “Neocons: Learning Disabled”

It’s my conviction that a conscientious columnist should admit his own faults and flaws. When a reader accuses me of making “a rather big leap from a very small statement” in another reader’s comment, I check myself. In this specific case, the reader was right: I did jump into conclusions, which I shouldn’t have done. … Continue reading “Sheikh Yassin and the Levitating German Corpses”

Are we returning to the bad old days of spying on peaceful Americans? In February, the most ominous challenge to political freedom from the administration of George W. Bush occurred in Des Moines, Iowa, when federal prosecutors issued grand jury subpoenas to Drake University, a private institution; the student chapter of the National Lawyers Guild; … Continue reading “Just Like in the Bad Old Days, the Government Is Cracking Down on Dissent”

Neo-conservatives close to the administration of President George W Bush are pushing for retribution against Iran for, they say, sponsoring this week’s Shiite uprising in Iraq led by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Despite the growing number of reports that depict the fighting as a spontaneous and indigenous revolt against the U.S.-led occupation, the influential neo-cons … Continue reading “Neocons See Iran Behind Shi’ite Uprising”

Collateral Damage in Bush’s Wars I downloaded and listened to your interview with Matthew Barganier. In general it was good, but I was disappointed by your weak argument in support of investigating the underlying causes for September 11. We should be defensive about this. May recommend a better (in my view) line of argument. We … Continue reading “”