Month: December 2004

While we’ve been seeing a lot of analyses lately regarding the divine-emperor, theocratic identity of George W. Bush, what we now need to understand is how Bush strategists have changed Americans by fashioning a new identity for the Bush/war supporter: obedient/"good" child, faithful/"good" Christian, and popular/"good" patriot. If you wonder why even thinking about losing … Continue reading “Never Smile at a Crocodile II”

NEW DELHI – A year after India and Pakistan launched their first serious attempt at a bilateral dialogue after their 1998 nuclear blasts and two major military crises, the prospect of success looks tantalizingly close and yet uphill in the last stretch. Both Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will have … Continue reading “Hopes for Indo-Pak Peace in ’05”

It is easy, observing the prospects for peace, let alone an American withdrawal any time soon in Iraq, to be discouraged this Christmas season. “There is no peace on earth, I said,” goes the line from the 19th-century Christmas song. And even though that song ends on a hopeful note, it is not difficult to … Continue reading “Restoring Christmas”

The mother of a man murdered by two British soldiers in Belfast has asked the U.S. Department of Defense to cancel a $293 million Iraq security contract awarded to their commanding officer. Irish human rights group the Pat Finucane Center has filed a detailed submission on behalf of Jean McBride challenging the Pentagon’s deal with … Continue reading “Mother Pleads to Pentagon Over Spicer Contract”

"Doc, we had a huge blowout at Thanksgiving and now the family is split between pro-war, pro-Bush and antiwar, anti-Bush factions. Some people are no longer on speaking terms. Everybody’s acting like this is some kind of civil war. Write about that – how can we get through to our pro-war relatives this Christmas?" Many … Continue reading “Never Smile at a Crocodile”

I don’t believe in God, but the Devil is another matter entirely. Proof of the Malevolent One’s existence is all around us, and he’s been pretty busy lately – filling the military hospitals with the wounded (30,000-plus so far), torturing and otherwise abusing helpless prisoners of war (the Devil never signed the Geneva conventions), and … Continue reading “The Devil’s Christmas”

Last week’s purge of Bosnian Serb officials by viceroy Ashdown has touched off a political meltdown in the country. Senior Serb officials are resigning left and right, jeopardizing the continued functioning of the current central government, while the general public is trying to guess whether a major revision of the 1995 Dayton Agreement is really … Continue reading “Orwellian Balkans”

CAIRO – It’s lunch time in Cairo and two dozen Egyptian activists and intellectuals take break for tea and date bars. They’ve gathered in a community center near the city’s main train station to discuss new efforts to bring democracy to their country, which has been governed by an emergency law banning nearly all public … Continue reading “US Seeks to Silence Arab Democracy Activists”

The Third IntifadaMr. HaCohen, "Your own poor come first" – Talmud I think it is the duty of every Jew to support his fellow Jew before others. You should be more sympathetic of Israel’s actions. Israel has good intentions. Would you agree? If you agree, stop publicly humiliating Israel so much in your articles by … Continue reading “Backtalk, December 23, 2004”

According to people who have been there, Fallujah is not a very big city. You can walk across it in half an hour. Yet when the history of this miserable war is written, I suspect it may loom large. Like Stalingrad, it will mark the point where the war turned against the invader.You may recall … Continue reading “Fallujah: Little Stalingrad”