Month: February 2017

Daesh executed 20 people near Mosul by burning them to death.

President Trump’s Muslim ban is not only mean-spirited and, hopefully, unconstitutional, but it is irrational because it doesn’t even include the country most responsible for spreading terrorism around the world: Saudi Arabia. The travel restrictions on seven Muslim-majority countries was rationalized as a way to thwart potential terrorists from entering the United States, with Trump … Continue reading “In Trump’s World Where Money Talks, Saudi Arabia Gets a Free Pass”

Less than three weeks into the presidency of Donald J. Trump, there are several troubling signs that the new administration is abandoning its foreign policy mandate and going off the rails. First and foremost is the saber-rattling aimed at Iran. The ostensible reason for this is Tehran’s testing of mid-range ballistic missiles which, we are … Continue reading “Trump at the Crossroads”

Chemicals found at Mosul University tested positive for sulfur mustard

On the domestic front, Donald Trump’s bullying and abuse have unfolded on the nightly news like a soap opera. When acting attorney general Sally Yates did her job by telling Trump that his suspension of visas to seven Muslim nations was possibly unlawful, he fired her. When she told him that "At present, I am … Continue reading “Donald Trump and the Foreign Policy of Abuse”

Is Donald Trump to be allowed to craft a foreign policy based on the ideas on which he ran and won the presidency in 2016? Our foreign policy elite’s answer appears to be a thunderous no. Case in point: U.S. relations with Russia. During the campaign Trump was clear. He would seek closer ties with … Continue reading “Moral Supremacy and Mr. Putin”

An embedded Iranian soldier was reported killed near Tal Afar

Let’s face it: since 9/11 everything in our American world has been wildly out of proportion. Understandably enough, at the time that attack was experienced as something other than it was. In the heat of the moment, it would be compared to city-destroying or world-ending Hollywood disaster films (“It was like one of them Godzilla … Continue reading “Now Who’s the Enemy?”

“Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti- war rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances,” Illinois State Senator Barack Obama said in 2002. Later in the same speech: “What I am opposed to is a dumb war.” Although elected … Continue reading “Trump’s Foreign Policy: Obama’s Third Term, Bush’s Fifth”

President Trump is once again roiling Washington and provoking attacks from both sides of the increasingly irrelevant political spectrum with his pre-Super Bowl interview with Fox’s Bill O’Reilly. Here’s the relevant part of the transcript: “O’Reilly: Do you respect Putin? “Trump: I do respect him, but – “O’Reilly: Do you? Why? “Trump: Well, I respect … Continue reading “Trump and the End of Innocence”