Alan Bock

Slobodan Milosevic has challenged the legitimacy of the international war-crimes tribunal at The Hague that now has him in custody, on rather narrow grounds. The tribunal’s legitimacy could form the basis of an interesting discussion, but it’s a bit beside the point. The tribunal has no particular legal standing, but it has power, the ability … Continue reading “More Confusion Than Closure at The Hague”

The current Condition Delta global alert against terrorist threats called by the United States government last Friday because of allegedly credible threats from "Saudi millionaire" (as he’s always described) Osama Bin Laden’s organization could give us preliminary answers to an unsettling question. Is the U.S. government or the militant Taliban regime in Afghanistan closer to … Continue reading “Testing Government Reliability”

George W. Bush was once again a beneficiary of what he has called, in another context, the "soft bigotry of low expectations" during his not-so-grand tour of Europe. To the surprise of nobody except the credulous and those who get their information from late-night comics, he uttered only a few Bushisms and managed to avoid … Continue reading “Making the Subgrand Tour”

Various loyal acolytes including CNN, most of the newspapers and the major networks worked diligently to make the killing of Timothy McVeigh into something of a solemn religious event that bolstered the power and dignity of the State and the Empire it fitfully tries to run. But I’m not sure it worked as it might … Continue reading “The State’s Dark Underside”

The Bush administration is putting out all sorts of statements that are presumably supposed to be reassuring. I just wonder who is supposed to be reassured by some of these statements. For example, in domestic affairs, the Bushies want to reassure us that they are firmly committed to leaving no child behind and the evidence … Continue reading “Reassuring Nobody?”

The best news relating to the Balkans is that there seems to be something of a split within the Bush administration over "peacekeeping" missions like the NATO deployment in Bosnia and other Balkan countries. The worst news is that at this point the most vocal, mediagenic and forceful figures in the administration seem to be … Continue reading “Multiplying Balkan Confusion”

I almost hope that Secretary of State Colin Powell’s opening to more involvement in the always-ephemeral Middle East "peace process" is a public relations gesture that is essentially a cynical ploy rather than a serious move. One can imagine it being so. There are not only governments in the region but established and influential lobbying … Continue reading “Powell on Mideast: Seduced or Cynical?”

The big news in drug reform circles this week is the Supreme Court’s decision that there is no "medical necessity" exception to federal prohibition of marijuana distribution or manufacture that can be claimed by the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative. The court did not overturn California’s law allowing patients with a recommendation from a licensed physician … Continue reading “International Aspects of Drug Wars Undercovered”

had rather expected that most American newspapers would feature the photos of Veronica Bowers and her almost achingly lovely daughter in the innocent days before her killing on the front page. Poignant as the photos were, however, they were displaced by other news, pushed to the inside pages or not used at all in many … Continue reading “Making the War All Too Real”

What are they thinking, some of these people in Congress and on television who want to make more of the American spy plane near China incident than is warranted? One is not surprised, perhaps, at advocates of “benevolent” American hegemony like Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan whining that the American side conceded too much and … Continue reading “Commerce and Peace”