All my life, I've had distinctly minority positions on almost every issue. This started in high school. Whether the issue was Barry Goldwater (I found him intriguing, and he seemed far less corrupt than Lyndon Johnson), the rights of homosexuals (I was opposed to cops...
The basic democratic principle that "the will of the people should be the basis for the authority of government" is supported by overwhelming majorities throughout the world, according to a major new survey [.pdf] of more than 17,000 adults in 19 countries...
While this week's trip by President George W. Bush to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt was never conceived as a triumphant "victory lap" around the region, the swift rout of U.S.-backed forces by Lebanon's Hezbollah Friday has provided yet another vivid...
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged her administration's support for the Lebanese government Friday in the aftermath of Hezbollah's takeover of West Beirut, accusing the Iranian-backed group of "killing innocent civilians" in a bid to...
Updated at 9:12 p.m. EDT May 13, 2008Although a ceasefire was signed yesterday, attacks in Sadr City continued. At least 36 were killed and 73 were injured across the country. One American soldier was killed in an IED attack late today in Baghdad. The violence...
Rather horribly, it seems, a former Guantánamo prisoner, Abdullah al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti who was repatriated in November 2005 and who later married and had a child, blew himself up as a suicide bomber in Mosul, Iraq, last month. According to the U.S. military, Ajmi...
It looks like the War Party is victorious, at least according to Philip Giraldi writing on The American Conservative blog: "There is considerable speculation and buzz in Washington today suggesting that the National Security Council has agreed in principle to proceed...
Updated at 12:20 a.m. EDT, May 13, 2008Supporters of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and members of the largest Shi'ite bloc in Parliament formally signed a cease-fire agreement that should end seven weeks of heavy attacks in Sadr City. Still, many residents are afraid...
Have you ever wondered how human beings can be so cruel? And how cruelty crosses all the boundaries – national, racial, and ethnic? I have. Rereading an autobiography published in 1941 by a communist agent reminded me of the dark side of human nature. The book,...
From the administration that used the 9/11 tragedy to violently pursue an unrelated vendetta against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, we get Round Two. After a cyclone devastated portions of Burma (which the despotic Burmese government has renamed Myanmar) and killed an...
