Much ink has been spilled over whether NATO will give Ukraine and Georgia a "membership action plan," or MAP, at its upcoming summit. The U.S. administration supports it; Angela Merkel of Germany, America’s best friend in Europe, opposes it. Merkel is trying to save America from a dangerous mistake, one potentially worse than Iraq. It … Continue reading “The Wrong MAP for
Ukraine and Georgia”
Month: April 2008
The Wrong MAP for
McCain’s Foreign Policy Vision: Style Over Substance
In a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, John McCain outlined his vision for U.S. foreign policy if he were elected president. As portrayed by much of the so-called mainstream media, one might be led to believe the McCain’s vision is fundamentally different than the current U.S. foreign policy practiced by the Bush … Continue reading “McCain’s Foreign Policy Vision: Style Over Substance”
Tuesday: 1 US Soldier, 40 Iraqis Killed; 25 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 7:30 p.m. EDT, Apr. 1, 2008Despite what appeared to international eyes as a massive political loss for Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister called his failed Basra security operation a success. Also, U.K. Defense Minister Des Brown warned that the drawdown of British troops might be delayed, even as U.S. Democrats were at … Continue reading “Tuesday: 1 US Soldier, 40 Iraqis Killed; 25 Iraqis Wounded”
Embarrassed US Starts to Disown Basra Operation
As it became clear last week that the Operation Knights Assault in Basra was in serious trouble, the George W. Bush administration began to claim in off-the-record statements to journalists that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had launched the operation without consulting Washington. The effort to disclaim U.S. responsibility for the operation is an indication that … Continue reading “Embarrassed US Starts to Disown Basra Operation”
Should We Fight for South Ossetia?
In an echo of Warren Harding’s “A Return to Normalcy” speech of 1920, George Bush last week declared, “Normalcy is returning back to Iraq.” The term seemed a mite ironic. For, as Bush spoke, Iraqis were dying in the hundreds in the bloodiest fighting in months in Basra, the Shia militias of Moqtada al-Sadr were … Continue reading “Should We Fight for South Ossetia?”
Delusional Bush Dances Toward War
Events of the last week offer a metaphorical glimpse at the delusion pervading President George W. Bush’s White House and other enclaves of Iraq supporters in Washington. Bush and the First Lady spent last Monday clowning with the Easter Bunny (White House counsel Fred Fielding having donned the costume). At the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), … Continue reading “Delusional Bush Dances Toward War”
Latest Gitmo Charges Questionable
The U.S. Department of Defense announced Monday that Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian captured after a gunfight in Gujrat, Pakistan, in July 2004, would be the fifteenth Guantánamo prisoner to be tried by military commission, in connection with his alleged involvement in the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on Aug. 7, … Continue reading “Latest Gitmo Charges Questionable”
A Liberal Politician Libertarians Can Appreciate
Author’s note: I gave this talk at the Peace Feast in Seaside, Calif., on March 29. This week the Monterey County Weekly ran an article in which it "outed" me as an antiwar professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. I’m not complaining: everything in that article was accurate, except for the part about my not … Continue reading “A Liberal Politician Libertarians Can Appreciate”