Alan Bock

Well, just about everybody in the U.S. hierarchy, from commanders on the ground to the Joint Chiefs to the CIA to Barack Obama to John McCain to members of both parties in Congress, seems to agree now. It’s time for the United States to focus on Afghanistan and apply the valuable lessons we learned in … Continue reading “From the Frying Pan…”

There seem to be two possibilities, according to several experts and sources I talked to last week, to explain the fact that the United States decided to have Undersecretary of State William Burns, the third-ranking person in the State Department, sit in the same room with Iranian nuclear envoy Saeed Jalili and high-ranking diplomats from … Continue reading “An Opening to Iran?”

If the dominant themes that have been used to justify the Iraq war recently were sincerely held, the administration and the neocons should be doing backflips of joy this week. Building an independent and sovereign Iraq, preferably with a government responsive to the people? Check. When the Iraqis stand up we will stand down? They’re … Continue reading “An Inconvenient Display of Democracy”

Of course, if Seymour Hersh is right, in a pretty real sense the Bush administration has already attacked Iran. Under the auspices of a presidential finding promulgated last fall or winter, special operations forces and other operatives are inside Iran trying to stir up and capitalize on the kind of discontent that just might lead … Continue reading “Will the US Attack Iran?”

It may be that the phrases "Middle East peace" and "Israeli-Palestinian peace" are classic oxymorons, along the lines of the late George Carlin’s example, "military intelligence." Certainly the history of the last several decades, perhaps the last 50 years, suggests that the safest attitude toward whatever is the latest manifestation of hope for peace among … Continue reading “Making Progress, Without Uncle Sam”

Scott McClellan, President Bush’s former press secretary turned mini-nemesis, was back in the news, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, once again breaking omerta and urging the Bush White House to be more open about the Valerie Plame affair and other matters. "This is a very secretive White House," he lamented. "There’s some things that … Continue reading “The Media Did Fail Us”

To say that politics makes people stupid may be painting with too broad a brush, although there’s plenty of evidence of politically induced stupidity committed by people who really ought to know better. I have sometimes posited that going into government at almost any level automatically causes one to lose 50 IQ points. The first … Continue reading “Talking About Nothing”

Pardon me if I have, at least for the moment, a certain amount of hope that the abiding institutions and attitudes in the United States just might be able to weather the sustained and systematic assault on our liberties and our better traditions that has characterized the Bush administration since 9/11. Undoubtedly some of the … Continue reading “Optimistic About the Military”

The Russian leadership pulled off its political version of musical chairs this week. President Vladimir Putin, who has served two terms and under the Russian constitution can’t run again, stepped down in favor of his protégé, the little-known Dmitri Medvedev, then assumed the position of prime minister, in ceremonies that summoned up memories of czarist … Continue reading “Moscow Musical Chairs”

The economy seems to have overtaken the war as a live concern for potential voters, which to a great extent reflects the economic uncertainty many people are feeling – more than may be warranted by their own personal prospects, but real enough to affect political perceptions, even though the president has less real control over … Continue reading “The Candidates’ Similarities”