Month: August 2004

Last week John Kerry promised that if he is elected president, Yucca Mountain – the zillion-dollar high-level nuclear waste interim depository in Nevada, whose initial operation Congress approved back in 2002 – would not be allowed to open. "Not on my watch," Kerry said. The Democrats see Nevada – which went for Bush in 2000 … Continue reading “From Megatons to Megawatts”

The self-“outing” of New Jersey Governor James McGreevey and his involvement with Golan Cipel, described as a 30-something Israeli “poet,” soon degenerated into one of those the-personal-is-the-political soap operas Americans seem to revel in. After hearing McGreevey’s now famous “I am a gay American” speech, some gushed that this put him right up there with … Continue reading “Sex, Lies, and Terrorism”

There will eventually be another terrorist act inside the United States. The question is, How will we react? If we react the same way we did to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we will probably wreck our economy. We should learn from the Israelis. When there is a terror attack, … Continue reading “If You Want War, Get Used to Blood”

It would be difficult to find a better example of the moral bankruptcy and hypocrisy of U.S. foreign policy — and why it has stirred so much anger, hatred, and terrorism against the United States — than the relationship of U.S. officials with Saddam Hussein, Ahmad Chalabi, and Iyad Allawi. Despite all the highfalutin rhetoric … Continue reading “Saddam, Chalabi, and Allawi Epitomize US Foreign Policy”

LONDON – After years of condemning torture in other countries, Britain could now be approving it as official policy. New questions have arisen for the government following a two-to-one ruling by a court of appeal that said the British government had the right to accept evidence obtained under torture – so long as the torture … Continue reading “In the UK, a ‘Terrifying’ Judgment on Suspected Terrorists”

With the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact in 1989 – and the prospect of massive land battles in Central Europe ended – both the Soviet Union and the U.S. began to dismantle tens of thousands of tactical "battlefield" nukes. Two years later, with the Soviet Union about to come unglued, Russian officials came to "lobby" … Continue reading “Whose Loose Nuke Are You?”

A disengagement divorced from peace negotiations can be very dangerous. Sharon’s people say that they don’t give a damn what will happen in the Gaza Strip after the Israeli withdrawal. They are pretending. Behind the scenes, the military and political leadership is planning the installation of a local warlord, who would rule the Strip under … Continue reading “Sharon’s Disengagement Not What It Seems”

I don’t know what caused it. Maybe it was the president’s imperialistic foreign policy. At any rate, I had a sudden urge to read Rudyard Kipling. I reread Kim and The Jungle Book. Both of these are excellent works for your children to read. Kim, the little friend of all the world, and Mowgli, who … Continue reading “Kipling’s Back”

We saw butterflies turning into bombers. And we weren’t dreaming. At the time when the Woodstock festival became an instant media legend in mid-August 1969, melodic yearning for peace was up against the cold steel of American war machinery. The music and other creative energies that drew 400,000 people to an upstate New York farm … Continue reading “Bombers Turn to Butterflies Again”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has launched a campaign to oppose policies of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) that require some 10,000 non-profit groups that raise money through the CFC program to check their employees against federal "watch list" of terrorist suspects. The campaign, which has already drawn 15 other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including … Continue reading “Watchdog Groups Oppose Federal Watch Lists”