Imagine for a moment that you were preparing for a fact-finding trip to a foreign country and that you had to choose between background reports produced by two competing informants. The first is by a person who has visited the place on a number of occasions in controlled situations (planned group visits, study tours, and …
Continue reading “Language and American Perceptions of the World”
In a recent New York Times op-ed titled “Is It Better to Save No One?,” liberal columnist Nicholas Kristof implicitly attacks the critics of the U.S. intervention in Libya as being heartless and/or immoral. Though he acknowledges the hypocrisy and inconsistency of U.S. foreign policy and the potential for the intervention to damage U.S. national …
Continue reading “Murdering Some to Save Others”
“NATO is moving very slowly, allowing Gadhafi forces to advance,” said rebel leader Abdul Fattah Younis, as the Libyan army moved back to the outskirts of Ajdabiya, gateway city to Benghazi. “NATO has become our problem.” Younis is implying that if NATO does not stop Libyan soldiers from capturing Ajdabiya, the rebels may be defeated—and …
Continue reading “Was Obama Stampeded Into War?”
When the United States begins to draw down overseas military forces from trouble spots, the American media, and therefore the public, assumes the show is over and loses interest. This waning of attention and interest has happened in Iraq and is dangerous. This phenomenon occurred even during the Vietnam War. President Richard Nixon told the …
Continue reading “US Out of Iraq. Really.”
Remember how we were supposed to leave Iraq in 2011? Indeed, a great many people think we’ve already left, what with that official “withdrawal” announced by the Obama administration and its media amen corner in August of last year. Recall that MSNBC breathlessly reported the “end of the US mission” and even interviewed what was …
Continue reading “A Policy Chasing Its Tail”
RAMALLAH – After several days of intense violence, during which 19 Palestinians were killed and one Israeli wounded, a fragile calm has returned to Gaza. But political commentators argue that this could well be a precursor to Israel’s next war on the coastal territory. During the last week the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a …
Continue reading “War Clouds Back Over Gaza”
Was there ever an American president who publicly told more people on this planet what they must do than George W. Bush? I suspect not. He’s gone, of course, but America’s version of a “must-do” foreign policy didn’t exactly leave the scene with him—the only difference being that from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to Libya, …
Continue reading “Obama Still Hammering Away”
Although the new Iraqi government continues to insist the last American soldier will leave at the end of this year, Independent M.P., Safiya al-Suheil, questioned Iraq’s commitment to the 2008 U.S.-Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement, as no security ministers have been selected. Meanwhile, light attacks continued apace, leaving at least 15 Iraqis dead and 27 more wounded.
MOSCOW – Campaigners are asking the Azerbaijan government to introduce radical reforms early to avoid a popular uprising sweeping the Arab world. Opposition leaders and rights activists have mobilized large protests in March and early April, and plan more—despite the official restrictions on public rallies. Many demonstrators have been detained. “The majority of the enlightened …
Continue reading “Arab Spring at Azerbaijan’s Door”
Latin America has displaced traditional high-rollers, including the Middle East and Europe, as the region registering the largest percentage increase in military spending last year, according to a new study released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The increase in real terms was 5.8 percent for Latin America, compared with 5.2 percent for …
Continue reading “Latin America Logs Largest Increase in 2010 Military Spending” 
