Despite spending more than half a billion dollars over the last quarter century, U.S. government broadcasts to Cuba have gained only a tiny audience and have had virtually no effect on the island’s politics, according to a new report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Radio and TV Marti have failed to make any discernible …
Continue reading “Radio, TV Marti Under Fire”
I often walk through Times Square where the Incompetent Bomber parked his 1993 Nissan Pathfinder last Saturday with the alarm clocks wired to the M88 firecrackers in the canister between the five-gallon gasoline containers and the three propane tanks, the bags of nonexplosive fertilizer, and so I take a personal interest in the case. I’m …
Continue reading “Hullabaloo in Times Square”
Updated at 6:10 p.m. EDT, May 4, 2010
At least five Iraqis were killed and 21 more were wounded in the latest attacks, while two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate, non-combat events. The Mahdi Army has officially revived its public face in what it says is an attempt to keep violence in check and ensure the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defence is looking into allegations that Britain took part in chemical warfare. Also, Iraqis have begun to address the psychological effects of the war and look into the number of people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and similar conditions.
The Pentagon’s lame-excuse directorate has a new reason why we’re not winning our woeful war on -ism. The “Blame Cell,” in its various ad hoc and formal manifestations, has been successfully warding off culpability for the Defense Department’s failures since the Korean War. Our services’ graduate-level war college programs wax operatic about the brilliance of …
Continue reading “Microsoft Scapegoat 1.0”
If George W. Bush – notorious for skipping his Texas Air National Guard drills during the Vietnam War – were in the Guard today, he’d be up in the air without a propeller. That’s because today’s National Guard has become virtually indistinguishable from the nation’s active-duty forces in the war zone. The majority of these …
Continue reading “Return Our Weekend Warriors”
At least six Iraqis were killed and 16 more were wounded as a manual recount of ballots begin today in Baghdad. The contentious recount was not without its own controversy as the prime minister’s party found fault with the procedures that could help them win more seats in the new parliament.
Now don’t get all excited, or anything, but there is a real chance that the Obama administration may be on the way to a general Middle Eastern peace settlement, one that bypasses the relatively narrow Israeli-Palestinian question, and cuts right to the chase. As reported in the Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. is negotiating with …
Continue reading “A Realist Breakthrough?”
Everyone has the right to change his or her mind. Even Danny Tirzeh. Col. Tirzeh was responsible for planning the wall that “envelopes” Jerusalem – the one that cuts the city off from the West Bank in order to turn it into the United Capital of Israel for All Eternity. And now, suddenly, Tirzeh pops …
Continue reading “A Cloud Over Jerusalem”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s stated purpose is “confronting anti-Semitism, hate and terrorism, promoting human rights and dignity, standing with Israel, defending the safety of Jews worldwide, and teaching the lessons of the Holocaust.” Rabbi Marvin Hier established the Center as a tax-exempt foundation in 1977 with a major grant from Canadian financier Samuel Belzberg and …
Continue reading “The Wiesenthal Center’s Bait and Switch”
Updated at 12:27 p.m. EDT, May 2, 2010
At least three Iraqis were killed and about 103 were injured in attacks in northern Iraq. The most significant attack targeted Christians in the Mosul area. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Maliki’s office has been accused of making death threats against a rival political party’s spokesman.
