Category: Uncategorized

Unbelievably, a belligerent Bush administration is trying to rattle the saber again against Iran, because of its defiance of the United Nations Security Council’s resolution against Iran’s nuclear program. In the long term, such blustering by a superpower is only likely to speed the efforts of Iran and other countries with nuclear aspirations to get … Continue reading “The United States May Have to Live With a Nuclear Iran”

Hillary Clinton is pocketing enormous amounts of cash across the country for her reelection campaign, from Manhattan to Hollywood. Yet, Hillary is facing what seems to be fierce opposition from within her own party, as well as from third parties here in New York. The main reason candidates have signed up to challenge Hillary is … Continue reading “Challenging Hillary Clinton”

However much President George W. Bush’s "freedom agenda" asserted itself into U.S. foreign policy in the wake of the Iraq invasion three years ago, traditional geo-politics – and the realpolitik that goes with it – is making a remarkably strong comeback. From the energy-rich Gulf of Guinea, across the Islamic Middle East to Central Asia, … Continue reading “Give Me That Old-Time Geo-Politics”

The recent run-up in gasoline prices has led to a number of proposals by Washington politicians. It has also caused many people to be angry toward oil companies. What we are seeing looks like a replay of discussions and policy proposals that started in 1973 and continued throughout the 1970s. In the late 1970s, I … Continue reading “Gasoline Prices and Energy Policy, True and False”

It’s the perfect day for a march. Sunny, crisp, clear, spring-like. The sort of day that just gives you hope for no reason at all, though my own hopes are not high for New York’s latest antiwar demonstration. I haven’t received a single e-mail about it. Many people I know hadn’t realized it was happening. … Continue reading “‘I’m Already Against
the Next War’”

Military actions were once taken only after careful war-gaming, which sought to elucidate likely and even not-so-likely responses from the other side. Today, as the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities looms, it seems the moral certainty that defines the administration has obviated that part of the foreign policy process. What’s right is right – regardless … Continue reading “‘Taking Out’ Iran’s Nuclear Facilities: Not So Fast”

Whenever I speak on campus, I always get the “But what about Darfur?” question. This usually comes in tandem with the inevitable Holocaust question, which goes something like this: “Yes, I agree with your opposition to the Iraq war, and your anti-interventionist sentiments in general, but what about our moral responsibility to prevent another Holocaust?” … Continue reading “What About Darfur?”

JERUSALEM – The Israeli government promised restraint in the wake of the bombing of a Tel Aviv falafel snack stand this month that was described as the worst suicide attack in almost two years, and which the Hamas government condoned. But the Israeli promise has not calmed fears of an attack. The Tel Aviv bombing … Continue reading “Unease Grows Over Israeli Restraint”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters at a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting held Thursday in Sophia, Bulgaria, that it was “pretty clear” that Iran would not meet the requirements set by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and would likely reject a deadline set by the UN Security Council “to bring its nuclear program in … Continue reading “Mad Cow”

Four years into the "global war on terror," terrorism appears to be thriving, according to the 2005 edition of the annual "Country Reports on Terrorism" released here Friday by the U.S. State Department. While the control and reach of al Qaeda, which carried out the spectacular Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the … Continue reading “Terrorism Still Thriving, State Department Says”