Thank God for Helen Thomas, the only person to show any courage at the White House press briefing after President Barack Obama gave a flaccid account of the intelligence screw-up that almost downed an airliner on Christmas Day. After Obama briefly addressed L'Affaire...
It was a Christmas and New Year's from hell for American intelligence, that $75 billion labyrinth of at least 16 major agencies and a handful of minor ones. As the old year was preparing to be rung out, so were our intelligence agencies, which managed not to connect...
What I call the Weird Factor, for lack of a better name, seems to have become a permanent feature of our post-9/11 world, a dark and sinister leitmotif that plays in the background. On 9/11, of course, the Factor was on full display as a whole string of unusual events...
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Iran had "quietly hidden an increasingly large part of its atomic complex" in a vast network of tunnels and bunkers buried in mountainsides. The story continued a narrative begun last September, when a second Iranian...
Some writers who are generally my allies in favor of capitalism and free markets have been critical of the movie Avatar. Reihan Salam, for example, on Forbes.com, writes, "In a sense, capitalism is the villain of Avatar." Edward Hudgins, a fan of Ayn Rand,...
A civil suit thought to be settled may not be over for Blackwater Worldwide. Some Iraqi families want more compensation for deaths and injuries caused by the companies contractors. Meanwhile, at least two Iraqis were killed and 20 more were wounded in new attacks. An...
At least five Iraqis were killed and eight more were wounded in light violence. Meanwhile, Iraq began disarming private contractors in what appears to be a response to the dismissal of U.S. court case against Blackwater. Iraqi forces began confiscating arms from...
There's a phrase originating with the peace activism of the American Quaker movement: "Speak truth to power." One can hardly speak more directly to power than addressing the presidential administration of the United States. This past October, students at...
U.S. and other Western officials expressed growing concern Friday over the fate of the peace accord signed five years ago this week by Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). "[T]ime is limited, the stakes are high, and there is much work yet...
RAMALLAH - Israel's bid to keep occupied East Jerusalem under its sovereignty and prevent its incorporation into a future Palestinian state has been boosted over the years with the acquiescence of the Greek Orthodox Church. The church's sale of politically sensitive...
