Backtalk

Magnanimous Mahmoud With all due respect to Mr. Buchanan, the Middle East is not the South Atlantic. Defending your own people in a colony which is yours, the Falklands, is a far cry from operating in disputed waters where you are the country which invaded another sovereign nation. It is the next-door neighbor of the … Continue reading “Backtalk, April 13, 2007”

Bigotry and Ignorance of Islam Dear Sir: Thank you for your article! It is well written and true in its substance. It means that you understand very well the religion of Islam. … I wish there were more people like you and that your article finds a wider audience. The dialogues of interfaith start with … Continue reading “Backtalk, March 26, 2007”

End of Cowboy Diplomacy, Part II? Dear Mr. Lobe, I am very grateful for your perceptive and rich articles, and I have been reading them for years. This last piece is particularly encouraging. In addition to the strong case you make about the ascendancy of the realists, I thought it would further strengthen your argument … Continue reading “Backtalk, March 15, 2007”

Murder, Inc. Dear Justin, I am an adjunct political philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame. I gave a lecture on Abu Ghraib a few years back in which I basically expressed the ideas that you articulated in this column. So, thanks for putting it in print. When I was in college back in … Continue reading “Backtalk, March 5, 2007”

Pledge Week I‘ve sent $50 during the past two donation drives. I’m sending $100 in the mail tomorrow. I have two boys in the military and appreciate everything you’re doing. I am tired of the lies and the greed and the cowardly bullying that has caused this war and is causing so much misery to … Continue reading “Backtalk, February 19, 2007”

Listen to the Foxes, Not the Hedgehogs Found this pretty narcissistic. Hadar was remiss not to at least acknowledge the analytical framework provided by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky for understanding how people working in media are subject to a kind of natural selection process which favors the self-interest of media owners. They describe in … Continue reading “Backtalk, February 13, 2007”

The Crime of the Century We can easily analyze (1) the deceptions in Bush’s Iraq policy, (2) the generally subservient response of the Democrats in Congress as they try to determine how little pressure they can put on the president … and (3) the insane promotion of the invasion of Iran (the ships are all … Continue reading “Backtalk, February 5, 2007”

Bush Is About to Attack Iran Like Paul Craig Roberts, I believe that the American attack on Iran will employ nuclear weapons, and it will lead to disaster. I also believe that Bush and Cheney are simply waiting for the pretext, the next “new Pearl Harbor,” to push the launch button. The media has again … Continue reading “Backtalk, February 1, 2007”

The Empire Turns Its Guns on the Citizenry Dear Mr. Roberts, When I was much younger the original meaning of SWAT was “Special Weapons Attack Team.” That meaning has now gone down the government’s memory hole being euphemized as “Special Weapons And Tactics.” The original was and is much more accurate. ~ G. Andris Vaskis, … Continue reading “Backtalk, January 26, 2007”

Who Is Planning Our Next War? Buchanan has been rightfully warning of the neocons’ plan for war on Iran at least since April 28, 2006. (“It is time for Congress to tell President Bush directly that he has no authority to go to war on Iran and to launch such a war would be an … Continue reading “Backtalk, January 13, 2007”