Thomas Knapp

“[W]e may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi,” US president Donald Trump told the nation on November 20, but “[t]he United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region.” Many find … Continue reading “Two Numbers That Explain Why Trump Won’t Sanction Saudi Arabia”

On September 30, a US Navy destroyer, the USS Decatur, sailed within 12 miles of the Gaven and Johnson reefs in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands. Twelve miles being the “territorial waters” limit set by the UN’s 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Decatur was met and warned off by a … Continue reading “The US Makes One Too Many Parties to the Spratly Spat”

On September 17, Politico reports, US president Donald Trump partially declassified a government surveillance application targeting former campaign consultant Carter Page and directed the US Department of Justice to publicly release text messages relating to the “Russiagate” probe between former FBI Director James Comey and other DoJ/FBI personnel. Whether or not this is a SMART … Continue reading “Two Cheers for Trump’s Declassification Order”

In a September 10 speech to the Federalist Society, National Security Advisor John Bolton offered “a major announcement on US policy toward the International Criminal Court.” The US government, per Bolton, considers the court “fundamentally illegitimate. … We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not … Continue reading “John Bolton vs. the International Criminal Court: A Simple Solution”

On September 5, the New York Times published an op-ed supposedly written by an anonymous official within president Donald Trump’s administration. The snobbish and self-serving hit piece paints Trump himself as dangerously immature, incompetent, and unstable, while reassuring us that “adults in the room” are working tirelessly to keep his worst impulses in check and … Continue reading “The Anonymous Anti-Trump Op-Ed Inadvertently (?) Exposes Real Danger”

In a recent tweet, US Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) warned that “Infowars is the tip of a giant iceberg of hate and lies that uses sites like Facebook and YouTube to tear our nation apart.” His solution: “These companies must do more than take down one website. The survival of our democracy depends on it.” … Continue reading “Murphy’s Law: Big Tech Must Serve as Censorship Subcontractors”

Friday the 13th is presumably always someone’s unlucky day. Just whose may not be obvious at the time, but I suspect that “Russiagate” special counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy US Attorney General Rod Rosenstein already regret picking Friday, July 13 to announce the indictments of 12 Russian intelligence officers on charges relating to an embarrassing … Continue reading “Have Mueller and Rosenstein Finally Gone Too Far?”

As US President Donald Trump heads to Helsinki for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump’s critics continue to inveigh against what they consider an illicitly close relationship between the two, a perspective stemming from the “Russiagate” scandal drummed up by supporters of Hillary Clinton to explain her defeat in the 2016 presidential election. … Continue reading “Helsinki: How About a Fresh START?”

“Nothing,” economist Milton Friedman once observed, “is so permanent as a temporary government program.” And nothing makes a government’s programs – or, more importantly, changes in its core values – more permanent than the loss of collective memory that comes with generational changes. We’re hitting a big one soon. It worries me. Next year, the … Continue reading “The New Normal: Our Evil Gift to a Generation Which Didn’t Deserve It”

Which is worse: The specter of nuclear war, or giving US president Donald Trump credit for a significant diplomatic accomplishment? In her official statement on Trump’s Singapore summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi makes it clear that a few million incinerated human beings are a small price to pay … Continue reading “North Korea: Pelosi versus Peace”