Consorting With the Axis of Evil

Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that interim Afghan prime minister Hamid Karzai was the darling of Washington? There he was during President Bush’s State of the Union address, making a fashion statement that was lovingly analyzed by various fawning commentators – the cape, hat, shirt and trousers were apparently characteristic of different regions … Continue reading “Consorting With the Axis of Evil”

State of the Union at War

Some might argue that I should be grateful at having my prejudices confirmed. But there’s plenty of evidence on the historical record. I could have lived a long time – a lifetime, perhaps? – without a contemporary, up-to-the-minute demonstration of the old Bournean adage that war is the health of the state. My preferences aside, … Continue reading “State of the Union at War”

Guantanamo and Geneva: The Missing Questions

It is hardly unusual for all sides of a given controversy to miss the central point; it’s what most of us do most of the time. But the skirting of salient issues surrounding the prisoners being held at the American Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba seems more egregious than usual. I doubt if the prisoners … Continue reading “Guantanamo and Geneva: The Missing Questions”

Nation-building or…

I distinctly remember President Bush, when the war – or the bombing campaign, depending on how much of a stickler you are for constitutionally-declared wars and other anachronisms – was just beginning, promising quite specifically that the United States wasn’t going to get involved in "nation-building" in Afghanistan. No, no, we had learned our lessons … Continue reading “Nation-building or…”

Naming the Beast

The French judge who has worked for seven apparently frustrating years trying to prove a persistent and sizable pattern of corruption by French President Jacques Chirac has resigned in frustration and given a blistering interview to the newspaper Le Parisien. Judge Eric Halphen says that the French justice system works only on behalf of the … Continue reading “Naming the Beast”

Strange Versions of Democracy

What passes in most media accounts as the “international community,” that floating collection of international diplomats who seem to have a stronger sense of loyalty to the international system, the ideal of diplomacy and agreements as ends in themselves – not to mention all the cushy international conferences – than to their own countries of … Continue reading “Strange Versions of Democracy”

Making Artificial Distinctions

Last weekend President Bush said, in response to questions about when the war in Afghanistan might be over, that he would stay in touch with Tommy Franks and other military commanders and declare victory the moment the military experts said the task was done – and not one moment sooner. In so doing he reinforced … Continue reading “Making Artificial Distinctions”

Tracking the War

Back in the bad old days academics and spooks called "Kremlinologists" worked assiduously to try to decipher the meanings and intentions of cryptic statements and portents from the central governing institutions of the secretive and security-minded masters of the Soviet Union. Although the attempts to predict what the Kremlin might do next were often backed … Continue reading “Tracking the War”

New Dangers in the Middle East

The most interesting theory in the wake of the weekend attacks in Israel came from DEBKA-Net-Weekly, advertised as an intelligence service and carried on WorldNetDaily.com. In its report Monday, it said that the unspoken upshot of the hurried and quite private meeting between George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon was that “the major Israeli offensive … Continue reading “New Dangers in the Middle East”