The Mythical End to the Politics of Fear

Nearly five years into the "war on terror," it's still at the core of American media and politics. Yeah, I've seen the recent polls showing a drop in public support for President Bush's "war on terror" claims. And I've read a spate of commentaries...

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The Real Terror Plot

And yet another menacing terror plot was thwarted August 10, with the arrest of 24 suspects, all British Muslims. It was an ominous conspiracy aimed at committing "mass murder" on an "unimaginable" scale, British authorities quickly concluded. US authorities hastily...

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The Neocons Ride Again

Laura Rozen, guest-blogging for the Washington Monthly, wonders if "the marketing campaign" for war with Iran has begun, noting what the deputy director of operations for the joint chief of staffs said over at the Pentagon the other day: "The Iranian government is...

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These Days, Everyone Dares Call Everything Treason

During the American Civil War, President Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus three times – all under the pretense that the government needed to "keep the peace" and "to protect its military operations." As a result, dozens of journalists in the North were...

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Readings in the Age of Empire

C. Fred Bergsten, et al., China: The Balance Sheet (New York: Public Affairs, 2006), 206 pp. Jed Babbin and Edward Timperlake, Showdown: Why China Wants War With the United States (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2006), 226 pp. Ted Galen Carpenter, America's Coming War...

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Bush Ensured Iran Offer
Would Be Rejected

Even before Iran gave its formal counteroffer to ambassadors of the P5+1 countries (the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China) Tuesday, the George W. Bush administration had already begun the process of organizing sanctions against Iran. Washington had...

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And the Loser Is… Everyone

Since the start of the current Middle East crisis, analysts have been trying to figure out who is responsible for this mess. Who made the crucial decisions that triggered the fighting between the Israeli military and the Hezbollah guerrillas, which has resulted in...

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Beirut Diary

With a truce in Lebanon shakily in place but challenged by small incidents almost every day, it's just another tenuous week in the Middle East. The 33-day war may be provisionally over, but it probably has not ended – and the scale of the destruction in Lebanon...

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Wishful Thinking

Empire, Kosovo, and "Natural Albania" Between the relative calm of the summer vacation season and the turbulent events in Lebanon over the past month, the Balkans have been on the periphery of news lately. Just because something isn't seen on CNN, however, doesn't...

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Israel’s ‘Moral High Ground’

The other day on CNN's Reliable Sources, Washington Post reporter Tom Ricks revealed the true face of the utter ruthlessness that underlies Israel's actions on the ground in the Middle East: Howard Kurtz: "And joining us now here [in] Washington [is] Anne Compton who...

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