The Meaning of the IAEA Iran Vote

What could possibly be the purpose of the "gentle slap" (according to the L.A. Times headline, 9/25) delivered to Iran via the IAEA vote that found it in noncompliance with the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and requires that it be reported to the UN at an unspecified...

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Cuban Terror Case Erodes US Credibility, Critics Say

The decision Tuesday by a U.S. immigration judge in Texas to deny Venezuela's request to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, whom Caracas has dubbed "the Osama bin Laden of Latin America," was greeted with surprise and disappointment by Latin America activists and even...

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Kurdish Voting Shenanigans May Tip Referendum

If the referendum on Iraq's draft constitution next month is conducted fairly, it now appears very likely that the document will be defeated by a two-thirds majority in the three Sunni-dominated provinces of Anbar, Salahadeen, and Nineveh, plunging Iraq into a new...

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Radiation Limits, Dirty Bombs, and Chaos

New Orleans, of course, showed up Washington's unpreparedness for emergency response. But there's an even far greater threat on the horizon: government radiation limits and the true risks from a "dirty bomb." Realistic radiation health limits need to be...

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India Ditches Iran and Nonalignment

NEW DELHI - By voting for a Western-sponsored resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), meant to reprimand Iran, India has signaled the collapse of its long-standing policy of nonalignment. Capping recent agreements signed with the United States on...

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The Joy of Schadenfreude

Ah, the joy of schadenfreude! There's really nothing quite like it. Wikipedia tells us there is no equivalent word in English, and defines this German expression as meaning "pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune" or "shameful joy." In short, it...

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Backtalk, September 27, 2005

The Tragedy of a Complicit MediaExcellent, if very depressing, column.I've been worried for many years now about the sorry state of our primary and secondary school systems. I do believe that, beginning with Reagan, Republicans have made a conscious effort to "dumb...

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Top Democrats Flee Peace Protests

I have been thinking for a while now that the Democrats really should sit down and consider changing their mascot from a donkey to a marmot. A rodent really is more emblematic of their provincial habits than a donkey could ever be. Think about it. Just this past...

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Democracy Won’t Stop Terrorism

Most of the debate surrounding the Iraqi occupation concerns tactical questions. How many soldiers are needed, how many schools have opened, how many terrorists have been killed? In Donald Rumsfeld's famous formula, American success is ultimately to be determined by...

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Case Closed, Condi

Ever since Condi Rice became secretary of state, she and her lackeys have been running around in circles of diminishing radius, muttering something about the "necessity" of referring Iran to the UN Security Council for "action." What necessity?...

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