Month: March 2007

“It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” – George Washington I have written before about the critical need for Congress to reassert its authority over foreign policy, and for the American people to recognize that the Constitution makes no distinction between domestic and foreign … Continue reading “The Original American Foreign Policy”

MEMORANDUM FOR: Speaker of the House Senate Majority Leader FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) SUBJECT: Denouement on Iraq: First Stop the Bleeding In the coming weeks a Congress that is willing to assert its prerogative as a co-equal branch of government has a unique opportunity to stop the needless deaths and maiming of … Continue reading “Denouement on Iraq: First Stop the Bleeding”

Taiwan has been an ally and friend of the U.S. for more than five decades. But with the emergence of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the world stage, the so-called Republic of China (ROC) has become a possible flashpoint for war. If America and the PRC come to blows, it likely will be … Continue reading “Taiwan, a Spark Plug for War”

Updated at 11:40 p.m. EST, Mar. 15, 2007 At least 98 Iraqis were reported killed or found dead today and 88 more were injured. Several Saudi and Syrian fighters were also killed. And, six American servicemembers were killed in separate incidents.The U.S. military reported that four American soldiers were killed and two more wounded today … Continue reading “Thursday: 98 Iraqis, 6 GIs Killed; 88 Iraqis Injured”

Zoran Djindjic, prime minister and the most powerful man in Serbia since the October 2000 coup, was assassinated on March 12, 2003. Fate would have it that Slobodan Milosevic, the man Djindjic helped overthrow, and whom he illegally extradited to the Hague Inquisition in 2001, died in Scheveningen on March 11 last year. The anniversaries … Continue reading “Desperately Seeking a Leader”

End of Cowboy Diplomacy, Part II? Dear Mr. Lobe, I am very grateful for your perceptive and rich articles, and I have been reading them for years. This last piece is particularly encouraging. In addition to the strong case you make about the ascendancy of the realists, I thought it would further strengthen your argument … Continue reading “Backtalk, March 15, 2007”

See the faint jet plumes overhead? Once soaring high through the celestial sphere of finance, the dollar is starting to lose orbit – tugged by the drag of war. But this time it’s different. It’s different because war is being waged in a monetary climate that has no precedent: an inflationary fiat monetary system, a … Continue reading “War Drags the Dollar Down”

Interview conducted March 6, 2007. Listen to the interview. Is Iraq a distraction from the real War on Terrorism? Is there a real War on Terrorism? What exactly is the threat to the Heimatland? (That’s “Homeland” in the original German.) To help discuss these questions is John Mueller, author of the new book Overblown: How … Continue reading “The Exaggerated Terror Threat”

Updated at 1:05 a.m. EST, Mar. 15, 2007At least 60 Iraqis were reported killed or found dead today and another 37 Iraqis were injured in lighter than normal violence. The worst attack killed 10 and wounded over two dozen more at a marketplace in northern Iraq. During combat in the Diyala Province yesterday, three soldiers … Continue reading “Wednesday: 60 Iraqis, 4 GIs Killed; 37 Iraqis Wounded”

Read it and weep: “Top House Democrats retreated Monday from an attempt to limit President Bush’s authority for taking military action against Iran as the leadership concentrated on a looming confrontation with the White House over Iraq. Officials said Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of the leadership had decided to strip from a major … Continue reading “Pelosi’s Betrayal”