Month: August 2006

In addition to being the capitals of three Middle Eastern countries, Baghdad (Iraq), Beirut (Lebanon), and Doha (Qatar) have something else in common, and it’s President George W. Bush’s global policy. While the violence taking place in Baghdad and Beirut is a direct consequence of the collapse of Bush’s Middle East policy and much of … Continue reading “Baghdad, Beirut, Doha”

Since the Soviet Union collapsed a decade and a half ago, nuclear weaponry has been mostly relegated to back pages and mental back burners in the United States. A big media uproar about nuclear weapons is apt to happen only when the man in the Oval Office has chosen to make an issue of them. … Continue reading “News Media’s Love-Hate for Nuclear Weapons”

Dedicated to the too few Israeli intellectuals who do dare speak out against this war. All generalizations are wrong, except this one: Israeli liberal intellectuals are against war. They have always been against it, and they even suffered greatly for their critical views, as they stress proudly. They were against the previous war, they will … Continue reading “Israeli Intellectuals
Love the War”

Israel and ‘Moral Equivalence’ Justin Raimondo suggests that “Middle Eastern morality” justifies disproportionate force. What about our killing of 1.7 million innocent Iraqis? Iraq has never done anything at all to the USA. Even with our presumably superior “Western morality,” we managed to outdo all the nations in the Middle East in terms of disproportionate … Continue reading “Backtalk, August 7, 2006”

It gives me little pleasure to suggest that the block parties in Miami’s Little Havana were premature. I have had a visceral dislike for Fidel Castro and what he has done to what is by nature one of the most pleasant places on earth for a long time, and there will be a certain satisfaction … Continue reading “Cuba: Same as the Old Boss”

There are two proposals for a cease-fire in Lebanon. One is French and is backed by the European Union and most of the Muslim world. The other is Israeli-American and backed only by Israel and the United States. There is one main difference. The French proposal is for an immediate cease-fire followed by negotiations on … Continue reading “My Fellow Targets”

Gotthard Lerch, a German businessman specializing in the manufacture and sale of industrial vacuum systems, has been on trial, charged with violating German export-control laws by participating in a scheme to clandestinely supply Libya with “support systems” for a plant that could enrich uranium. According to an article by Steve Coll in the current issue … Continue reading “Clandestine – Not Illegal”

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, has asserted that Israel will destroy Hezbollah or at least force it far enough north so that its rockets cannot threaten the Jewish state. As many have noted, this is turning out to be more difficult than expected. Since Hezbollah forced them out of Lebanon in the year 2000, … Continue reading “Israel’s Quagmire”

With the second Intifada and rise to power of Ariel Sharon, Israel abandoned Oslo and land-for-peace. We will never again negotiate with Arafat, said Sharon, because Israel does not negotiate with terrorists. Two Israeli prime ministers, Rabin and Peres, had shared a Nobel Prize with Arafat. A third, “Bibi” Netanyahu, had handed over Hebron to … Continue reading “On Talking With Terrorists”

NEW DELHI – A major rift has opened up between the Indian government and domestic public opinion over Israel’s recent military actions in the Gaza Strip and its invasion of Lebanon, which have led to hundreds of civilian deaths over three weeks. The Manmohan Singh government is hesitant to join the international community in unambiguously … Continue reading “India Hamstrung on Israel by Nuclear Deal With US”