Month: December 2008

War seems so simple. Take the tragic case of Zimbabwe, suffering under the odious Robert Mugabe. The economy is collapsing; people are starving; disease is spreading. When the people tried to vote him out of office, his thugs brutalized everyone in his way. All that matters to him is retaining power. What to do? "Has … Continue reading “Force: The Real ‘F’ Word”

You’ve got to hand it to them. Torture aficionados at the White House and CIA have conned key congressional leaders into insisting not only that torture-lite would be a swell idea, but advocating that the overseers of torture be kept on. From change-you-can-believe-in, we seem to be slipping back to fear-you-can-trade-on. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, chair … Continue reading “Will Obama Buy Torture-Lite?”

Updated at 10:32 p.m. EST, Dec. 11, 2008Near Kirkuk, at least 58 Iraqis were killed and another 120 were wounded in the last hours of Eid observances. Although reporters have been observing the Eid, this blast was too significant to ignore. No other deaths Iraqi and otherwise were reported. Meanwhile, Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for the … Continue reading “Thursday: 58 Iraqis Killed, 120 Wounded”

TEHRAN – Iranian national security officials and political leaders have been carrying out an internal debate over how much freedom President-elect Barack Obama will have to change US policy toward Iran, and those who have argued that he will not be able to do so have gained the upper hand since Obama’s announcement of his … Continue reading “Iranian Leaders Debate Obama’s Policy Freedom”

While in New York this fall for the UN General Assembly, conservative Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad admitted to National Public Radio that he watches Western television: "Of course, I’m like the rest of the people. People like movies and shows." Though most Western media is banned or censored, it’s well known that many Iranians regularly … Continue reading “An Outside Insider Probes the Iranian Psyche”

Updated at 7:05 p.m. EST, Dec. 10, 2008Today is the third and last day of Eid observances and reports should return to normal tomorrow. Only three Iraqis were killed and seven more were wounded today. It is likely that more attacks did occur, but many Iraqi journalists are on holiday during the Eid. The number … Continue reading “Wednesday: 3 Iraqis Killed, 7 Wounded”

Gigantism is the handmaiden of modernity, or so we have been led to believe. In literature, future utopias are almost always characterized by a world government, on the grounds that presumably the people of earth have evolved beyond the narrow confines of nationalism and ethno-cultural particularities. Everybody wears a white tunic or body-stocking and flies … Continue reading “Beware the New Globalism”

Barack Obama’s election victory has inspired a windfall of comment, most of it euphoric, with some grumbling from the political Right and the small quarters of the Left that remain unimpressed, so I am hesitant to contribute to the chatter. There is one element of Obama’s victory, however, that has received less attention than it … Continue reading “The Pragmatism of
Ethnic Cleansing”

A reminder, in case you needed it, that it is not 1794 anymore: Vice Admiral William Gortney of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet has advised merchant mariners that there’s not much he or his Combined Task Force 150 can do about the aggressive operations of Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa. Since “[the multinational … Continue reading “Millions for Defense…”

Updated at 7:10 p.m. EST, Dec. 9,2008Eid observances continue in Iraq so reports of violence remain low. Only four injuries were reported throughout the country. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, the U.S. military refuses to honor an Iraqi court order to release a journalist from their custody. Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed is an Iraqi journalist … Continue reading “Tuesday: 4 Iraqis Wounded”