Month: January 2006

Among the critics and reinterpreters of Fourth Generation war, the bad is most powerfully represented by Thomas Barnett’s two books The Pentagon’s New Map and Blueprint for Action. What Barnett advocates is bad in two senses: first, that it won’t work, and second, that if it did work the result would be evil. In both … Continue reading “Forcing the World to Be Saved”

There’s been a lot of talk recently about Israel and/or the United States bombing the nuclear facilities in Iran. I wouldn’t worry about that. I believe they are both bluffing. In the first place, just the talk has kicked up the price of oil. In the second place, there is no proof that Iran really … Continue reading “Iran’s Bomb”

In the 1940s and 1950s, when the generation of men now ruling over us were growing up, boys could disappear into a form of war play – barely noticed by adults and hardly recorded anywhere – that was already perhaps a couple of hundred years old. In this kind of play, there was no need … Continue reading “Our Indian Wars Are Not Over Yet”

They said he was dead, or so debilitated and “on the run” that we would never hear from him again: they said he was cowering in a cave somewhere, without operational control of al-Qaeda and with no hope of ever affecting the world in the way he did on 9/11 and its immediate aftermath. All … Continue reading “Bin Laden Returns”

Iraq tops a list of countries whose minorities find themselves most at risk of persecution and even mass killing at the start of 2006, according to a new threat index released Thursday by the London-based Minority Rights Group International (MRG). The index, the centerpiece of MRG’s 2006 edition of the "State of the World Minorities" … Continue reading “Iraq Tops Nations With Minorities at Grave Risk”

With the announcement that Iran plans to resume its nuclear programs, that country has moved at least into the sights of the United States and European countries as a potential threat that should be dealt with. Unfortunately, the United States, like most "advanced" states, is mentally locked into certain modes of dealing with perceived threats … Continue reading “Dealing With Iran”

Chastising Russia over its gas dispute with the Ukraine, Condoleezza Rice recently stated that Russia must "play by the rules." Certainly not economic rules – these would have justified Russia abolishing its hefty subsidy altogether on Ukrainian gas shipments and allowed the $50 Ukrainian price (per 1,000 cubic meters) to rise to the $240 European … Continue reading “Double-Edged Peace Pipes”

Bush Has Crossed the Rubicon Paul Craig Roberts’ piece pretty much sums up the state of the state in the good ol’ USA. … I have been writing to you for the past couple of years and trying to tell you that you are wasting your time anticipating prosecutions and jail time over “Plamegate” and … Continue reading “Backtalk, January 20, 2006”

The Bush administration’s "global war on terrorism" continued to set back the cause of human rights in 2005, according to a major U.S. rights group, which said that U.S. and European hypocrisy in carrying out that war led to a "global leadership void" that had been taken advantage of by more opportunistic powers, particularly Russia … Continue reading “Rights Group Criticizes US, EU Hypocrisy”

KARACHI – Missile strikes carried out by the United States on Damadola village near the Afghan border that killed 18 people may fuel religious fanaticism in this country and seriously complicate President George W. Bush’s war on terror, say moderate political leaders and security analysts. "Political realities in Pakistan need to be better be understood … Continue reading “Pakistanis: US Missile Strikes Will Affect War on Terror”