Month: March 2006

Like the Bourbons, famously described by Talleyrand as having learned nothing and forgotten nothing, the neocons have few regrets over the widening debacle in Iraq. Oh, some have published limited mea culpas, but these are merely extended exercises in excuse-making, and don’t really confront the intrinsic folly of the policy that guided our actions. The … Continue reading “The Shame and the Sorrow”

Pres. George W. Bush’s fast-waning political authority is far and away the biggest immediate casualty in what the Wall Street Journal Friday called “a debacle of the first order.” But the U.S. “war on terror” may also have suffered a major blow from what is widely perceived as a gratuitous slap in the face given … Continue reading “Mass Casualties in Collapse of Port Deal”

U.S. lawmakers who killed a deal that would have transferred management of terminals in six U.S. ports to an Arab company say they will forge ahead with legislation targeting foreign ownership of critical U.S sectors. The plans sent shockwaves through U.S. business groups, who are worried that such a move could discourage international investment in … Continue reading “US Firms Fear Blowback on Ports Debacle”

Last week Broad and Sanger made a characteristically misleading – but sometimes uncharacteristically revealing – report in the New York Times with respect to what would transpire in the aftermath of the March meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Their report began this way: “When Iran defiantly cut the … Continue reading “More Bushlet Diplomacy”

So what should the United States and the West do about Iran’s effort to acquire nuclear technology and (almost certainly) eventually a nuclear weapon? Kenneth Waltz has convinced me that for the sake of reduction of conflict and war, the best thing we can do is – well, pretty much nothing. Let’s face it, the … Continue reading “How I Stopped Worrying…”

BEIJING – With the dispute over Iran’s controversial nuclear program moving this week to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the stage is set for a perilous confrontation between the Islamic republic and the international community – a showdown that not only Tehran but also world powers like China and Russia have fought to avoid. … Continue reading “China Uneasy Over US Nuclear Policies”

You know things are going badly indeed in Iraq when U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad chooses to use an image – Pandora’s box – previously wielded only by that critic of the Iraq War, French President Jacques Chirac. Back in September 2004, Chirac compared American actions in Iraq to the famed box of myth, at a … Continue reading “Disintegrating Iraqi Sovereignty”

Americans are going to regret going into one of their periodic fits of xenophobic hysteria – this time over the Dubai port management issue – as the Islamists chalk up an important propaganda victory in their campaign to alienate the Muslim world from the West. But not to worry: as long as Arianna Huffington is … Continue reading “Dubai and Demagoguery”

When future historians start to discuss the first decade of the 21st century and the dramatic events that unfolded in that era, starting with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, they will probably try to draw the outlines of the counterfactual what-if scenarios and contrast them with what-really-happened. They may … Continue reading “Wasted Chances and
Dire Portents”

At the luncheon of the National Press Club on Feb. 17, 2006, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, was asked by his interviewer, John Donnelly: “Should people in the U.S. military disobey orders that they believe are illegal?” Pace’s response: “It is the absolute responsibility of everybody in uniform to … Continue reading “Gen. Pace to Troops: Don’t Nuke Iran”