When I was younger I used to imagine that the natural function of "public intellectuals" – not necessarily people who are smarter than the average Joe, but reasonably intelligent people with a bent for policy analysis and thinking large thoughts on...
It is often said of the Palestinians, and not without justice, that they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Something similar might be said of the U.S. occupation forces in Iraq, now fretting and fuming about the difficulties of establishing order and...
The usual suspects are pushing for Iran to be the next target of pressure, criticism and eventually (perhaps) military activity. Much of this bellicose advice emanates from some of the same mostly neoconservative quarters that promoted the war on Iraq for months and...
I can't say that I went out of my way to immerse myself in the media frenzy over golf star Annika Sorenstam playing with the men late last week, so I could have missed it. But in all the discussion of the greater significance of the event, I don't think I heard...
When Jonathan Foreman of the New York Post, who earlier did a piece on how the rest of the media were downplaying expressions of affection for Americans among Iraqis (a story several pro-war readers helpfully emailed to me), that the United States seems to be blowing...
Well, we're certainly teaching the Iraqi people about democracy – and as it is actually practiced, which is not necessarily the way those whose exposure has been limited to civics textbooks might expect it to be practiced. It features intrigue, behind-the-scenes...
With the naming of former ambassador L. Paul Bremer as something of a co-consul proconsul (the news accounts say he will be in charge with former Gen. Jay Garner his subordinate but the real picture at this point is still a little fuzzy, the administration has...
For a while there, I didn’t think it was all that big a deal when Dubya told the press that the United States has a definite commitment to the defense of Taiwan against military hostility from the mainland Chinese regime. After all, such a commitment was very...
The conventional wisdom during periods of transition – or revolution if the term is appropriate, as may well be – is that the most important priority is to establish order. Disorder, on this understanding, is pretty close to the natural condition of man,...
From the conflicting news stories, suggesting that different factions leak to different media outlets or different writers, it is almost impossible for a mere citizen to get anything resembling a clear idea of U.S. intentions in postwar Iraq. Is the United States...
