Month: July 2006

On the one hand, there’s the madness of devolving Iraq, where dead bodies and sectarian bloodletting are now the daily norm; on the other hand, there’s the eternal madness of the never less than devolving Israeli/Palestinian situation. There, last week, the Israeli government functionally declared Ariel Sharon’s unilateral policy of a no-negotiations withdrawal from Gaza … Continue reading “Déjà Vu in Gaza”

Although George W. Bush is probably not the worst president in U.S. history (Woodrow Wilson may have that dubious honor), the president may be in contention for that title in the post-World War II era. Although he still has two and a half years to go in his term and could conceivably orchestrate a late-inning … Continue reading “The Worst Post-World War II President?”

One of the first things Condi Rice didn’t do as secretary of state was to address the 2005 Review Conference of the Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons [.pdf]. She also didn’t allow the conclusions and commitments made at the 2000 NPT RevCon [.pdf] to even be discussed, much less reaffirmed. Instead, Condi sent Stephen … Continue reading “Reaffirming the Paris Accord – Not”

On January 28, 2003, George W. Bush delivered his State of the Union address, wherein he uttered 16 fateful words: "The British government," he averred, "has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Fateful, because this assertion turned out to have been based not on mistaken intelligence, or wrongly interpreted … Continue reading “Closing In on the
Niger Uranium Hoax”

Surprise, surprise. In an interview with John King from CNN last Thursday, Dick Cheney said that withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq would be the “worst possible thing we could do.” Doing his best to stoke the always simmering fears of so many U.S. residents (let us be careful how we use the word “citizen”), Cheney … Continue reading “‘Packing It In’”

Reality Beneath the Flag-Waving Sadly, every word of Paul Craig Roberts’ 4th of July essay decrying the death of American morality in the face of the Bush administration’s criminality is 100 percent accurate. I never thought I would see our once-great nation so turned on its head – becoming, ourselves, what we grew up deploring. … Continue reading “Backtalk, July 10”

Back in the 1970s, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, one of the giants of the 20th century, gave a commencement address at Harvard. It was, I believe, the last public address he gave in America. His criticism was so dead-on that he quickly became persona non grata. I’ve always thought that it is a permanent disgrace that this … Continue reading “America: Government of Cowards”

NEW DELHI – After the successful passage last week of two resolutions favoring the India-United States nuclear deal through the foreign relations committees of both chambers of Congress, it appears highly likely that it will clear the full Senate and House of Representatives. The nuclear agreement is strongly backed by U.S. business groups, the powerful … Continue reading “North Korean Missiles May Ease Indo-US Nuke Deal”

Even as Israeli troops, backed by armored vehicles and Apache attack helicopters, thrust into northern Gaza, political leaders were insisting the foray was temporary and military officials were wondering whether the operation had any hope of achieving its stated goal – ending rocket fire by Palestinian militants into Israel. “We have no intention of sinking … Continue reading “Israel Returns From Gaza With Little”

That free fireworks display Kim Jong-Il put on for our benefit on July Fourth may prove to have been the best day George Bush has had since Zarqawi went to his eternal reward. For years, Bush has been trying to persuade world opinion that Kim is a psycho who cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons. … Continue reading “Kim’s Rockets Clear the Air”