Alan Bock

It is Veterans Day today, which brings up the question of how to honor veterans of America’s various wars responsibly and honorably. I submit that the most sincere honor is paid by resolving not to allow our political leaders to get us involved in wars in which servicepeople are asked to give their lives in … Continue reading “HONORING VETERANS HONORABLY”

Last week Agence-France Presse, the French news agency, reported that U.S. and British air strikes killed two civilians and injured seven in an air strike on what an Iraqi spokesman said were civilian facilities in northern Iraq. The US military said the strikes had hit military targets as a response to anti-aircraft fire. The week … Continue reading “IRAQ MILITARY BUILDUP”

As Cato Institute foreign policy analyst Ted Carpenter told me, "It is pleasantly surprising to see evidence of some stirring of conscience, some desire to have something resembling the truth finally come out, on the part of people both in the State Department and at the New York Times.” Even if the Times story, in … Continue reading “Sudan Second Thoughts”

A news story that broke late yesterday makes it clearer than ever that the U.S. government plans to use the drug war as the pretext to intervene in the Colombian civil war on a massive scale. Exultant press conferences were held in Washington and Bogota to announce the arrest in Colombia of 30 drug trafficking … Continue reading “Colombian Sting”

A tattoo of war drums over Colombia has begun and can be expected to increase in volume and frequency. National Public Radio’s "Morning Edition” has been doing a five-part series on "the crisis in Colombia.” The first few reports have had some decent reporting and managed to convey at least some sense that the issues … Continue reading “War Drums Over Colombia”

Whether the United States will become involved in a more open way in the ongoing battles by the Colombian government against both narcotraffickers and left-wing guerrillas (sometimes in alliance) is still unknown, but despite official denials it looks more likely by the day. This Monday Reuters ran a story based on an interview with Ivan … Continue reading “Colombia Still Heating Up”

The UN intervention in East Timor – taken in a larger context than simply the insertion of troops – raises some interesting questions to which I don’t claim to have the answers. Are we seeing signs of decentralization or devolution of power here or a centralizing move? Can East Timor be viewed as part of … Continue reading “Which Way, Old World?”

The unanswered questions about the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during the NATO air war against Yugoslavia seem to have raised little interest among the courtier media in the United States, although the London Observer has cited an unnamed intelligence officer to the effect that NATO targeted the building deliberately because it was … Continue reading “Embassy Questions Persist”

I got several objections to my recent column on East Timor pointing out that Indonesia had taken over the former Portuguese colony by force in 1975, an acquisition not recognized diplomatically by a number of countries and protested by numerous human rights campaigners. So the general rule under the older theory, that the "international community” … Continue reading “Timor Complications”

So, are you ready to answer the call for volunteers for the East Timor Expeditionary Force? Actually, if anybody were seriously thinking of organizing a volunteer force, on the order of the Abraham Lincoln Brigades during the Spanish civil war, I would have no objection, though I wouldn’t be especially tempted to volunteer myself. There … Continue reading “A Timorous Expedition”