Nobel laureate in economics Milton Friedman has never, to my knowledge, written on foreign policy. But the framework in one of Friedman's best articles from the early 1950s can be applied directly to foreign policy. As far as I know, no one has done so. This is not...
Ukraine: More Than Gas at Stake
"Russia shoots itself in the foot" was the headline of a New York Times editorial on the 48-hour cutoff of natural gas to Ukraine, which also had an adverse impact on European natural gas supplies, most of which go through Ukraine on their way from Russia to...
On Another Planet
Getting rid of Jayson Blair and Judith Miller was a good beginning, but the "Grey Lady" still has "reporters" publishing as "facts" neo-crazy (and eco-wacko) propaganda. Today, for example, Elaine Sciolino began her report from Paris (Paris?) this way; "Iran...
Heck of a Job, Hayden!
The eavesdropping-on-Americans scandal came as shock and betrayal to most employees of the National Security Agency – and to other intelligence officers, active and retired. The idea that the once highly respected former director of NSA, Gen. Mike Hayden, had...
Back to 1214
In my last dispatch, The Unrestrained President, I suggested that what we were dealing with in Washington was a virtual cult of the presidency and that its believers were more fervent than any religious fundamentalists in their focus on the quite un-Christian...
Axis of Fanatics – Netanyahu and Ahmadinejad
With Ariel Sharon out of the picture, Benjamin Netanyahu has a better chance to become prime minister of Israel. He's media savvy. He knows how to spin on American television. And he's very dangerous. Netanyahu spent a lot of his early years in the United States....
Bush Bypasses Senate on Two Crony Appointments
Resorting once more to controversial "recess" appointments, U.S. President George W. Bush has named two political cronies to key administration positions without Senate approval. Ellen Sauerbrey, a former state lawmaker and unsuccessful right-wing Republican candidate...
Sharon’s Epitaph
The Rev. Pat Robertson, the prominent American televangelist and "Christian Zionist," says the felling of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with a massive stroke is punishment from God "for dividing the Land of Israel." According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency,...
Kurdistan: Meet the New Bosses
The neocons in Washington love to talk about how they're promoting freedom and democracy in Iraq. They often cite as their example the country's Kurdish population, staunch allies of Washington, who have been protected by the American military since no-fly zones were...
J. Edgar Hoover With Supercomputers
On Dec. 19, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Director of National Intelligence Gen. Mike Hayden held a press conference in which they once again misled the American people. Gonzales and Hayden answered questions about reports that the National Security...