It was a year much like any other – until it wasn’t. In the Balkans, the tone for 2013 was set in December 2012, when the Empire-installed regime in Belgrade pledged to break Serbia in exchange for lording over its ruins. But the understanding of Empire’s Balkans...
2013 has expectedly been a terrible year for several Arab nations. It has been terrible because the promise of greater freedoms and political reforms has been reversed, most violently in some instances, by taking a few countries down the path of anarchy and complete...
My Christmas holiday frequently includes a series of reunions with other former CIA people, often grouped by the overseas stations that we served in. This year the Istanbul gathering preceded Spain and the Rome Station ca. 1980 soon followed. Some of the retirees are...
The American media usually profit handsomely from "hyper-partisan" fighting – finding, and sometimes creating, politically conflict-laden stories that get more viewers, listeners, readers, and thus higher advertising revenues. After abetting this discordant...
See the phantoms filling the sky around you. They astound you, I can tell, these inhabitants of hell. Poor wretches whom the Hand of Heaven ignores. Beware, beware, beware, lest their dreadful fate be yours! ~ the ghost of Jacob Marley in Scrooge, 1970 For most of us...
At least 51 people were killed and 44 more were wounded in fresh violence. Arbaeen pilgrims and journalists were among today's victims. over a dozen gunmen were also killed. A suicide bomber blew up his car outside television studio in Tikrit, allowing four of his...
It is the time of year we feel a sense of joy and optimism. We are preparing for the holidays and looking to spend time with our families and friends. This year as we look back we see several developments that leave us feeling optimistic. A US attack on Syria was...
