William Pfaff

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The Latest Tale From the ‘War on Terror’ Dark Side

PARIS — Little mainstream comment seems to have appeared on the latest revelations of incompetence and sadistic fantasy that have been published this week about the ways in which the American nation lost its honor and international reputation because of the Bush administration’s infatuation with torture. Or with, as Vice President Richard Cheney has put … Continue reading “The Latest Tale From the ‘War on Terror’ Dark Side”

Political Solution in Afghanistan Possible,
but Not by Going Down Current Path

It would be a great service to the American nation if Barack Obama would tell us what he himself thinks the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan are about. To capture Osama bin Laden? There have been eight years in which to capture bin Laden and it’s not been done yet, and there seems no reason … Continue reading “Political Solution in Afghanistan Possible,
but Not by Going Down Current Path”

Intervention Today Means a Less Secure Tomorrow

A once-fashionable subject in America’s think-tanks was futurology, supposed to be a fruitful method for foreseeing the future (or "possible futures," as it was put at the time). It worked by projecting what were thought to be plausible developments in the situation of a given subject by way of a narrative that would lead to … Continue reading “Intervention Today Means a Less Secure Tomorrow”

The War Between Civilizations That Never Was

PARIS — An important change is evident in what since Samuel Huntington‘s time has been mistakenly identified and manipulated as a war between Muslim and Western civilizations. I say mistakenly for several reasons, one of them being that Professor Huntington himself actually foresaw a war in which an alliance of Muslim and Chinese civilizations attacked … Continue reading “The War Between Civilizations That Never Was”