Month: April 2006

America’s Newest Strategic PartnerLots of talk at your site (Gordon Prather and others) about what a dumb nuclear deal Bush made with India. How it doesn’t safeguard anything since India’s military reactors are not part of the deal, only the “domestic” reactors are (the ones painted in pastels). So India gets the benefit of receiving … Continue reading “Backtalk, April 20, 2006”

Amid a new escalation in threats between the United States and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, some prominent Republicans are calling for the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to engage Tehran in direct talks. At the same time, indications that Tehran may itself be hoping to engage Washington have been growing steadily, despite … Continue reading “Amid Threats, Some Republicans Seek Talks on Iran”

On Tuesday April 18, Chinese President Hu Jintao landed in the United States and, after a tour of a Boeing plant, made his official way, with all due pomp and ceremony, to the expectable “state banquet” in Washington… no, not at the White House but at the Washington State home of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. … Continue reading “Greeting Hu With
a 21-Gun ‘Salute’”

It’s odd that just as the tide turns irrevocably against the U.S. occupation of Iraq – both here and there – the otherwise steady Scott Ritter panics. He recently posted a harsh critique of the contemporary U.S. antiwar movement on his blog. In it, Ritter makes three main claims: (1) There is a “growing despondency” … Continue reading “Ritter Gets It Wrong”

"The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honor. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiqués are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration … Continue reading “The Ongoing War on Truth in Iraq”

The drumbeat in some Washington foreign policy circles for "regime change" in Iran has striking similarities to the run-up to the Iraq invasion, and is being led by some of the usual suspects – like the American Enterprise Institute’s Michael Ledeen. Though not well-known outside of Washington, Ledeen’s "views virtually define the stark departure from … Continue reading “Iran War Drumbeat Has a Familiar Rhythm”

Review of Fools’ Crusade by Diana Johnstone 317 pages, Monthly Review Press, New York, 2002 Books that have accompanied the 1990s Balkans wars have by and large been complete rubbish. There were, to be fair, some works worth reading. Yet the Balkans tragedy was missing a book that would explain things in layman’s terms – … Continue reading “Birth of an Empire”

Despite White House efforts to put an end to the controversy, the battle over the fate of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld shows little sign of abating. And the outcome, which is by no means certain, could well determine the trajectory of U.S. policy in key areas – including Iraq, Iran, and even China – through … Continue reading “Rumsfeld’s Fall Drags Hawks in Its Wake”

eland_april18.htm

On April 12, Bloomberg News reported, "Iran, defying United Nations Security Council demands to halt its nuclear program, may be capable of making a nuclear bomb within 16 days, a U.S. State Department official said. "Iran will move to ‘industrial scale’ uranium enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges at its Natanz plant, the Associated Press quoted deputy … Continue reading “Busting Empty Bunkers”