Backtalk March 14

The Specter of Fascism This article was spot on. While watching the towers burn in NY on TV, my first thought was for the people in the towers, and my second was how this would energize all the authoritarians who would bend the Constitution to limit our freedoms and...

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The Unpredictability of Revolutions

Freedom and democracy are on the march. So, says President Bush. And, surely, something is on the march. Though from the look of that Beirut crowd of 500,000, roaring for Sheik Nasrallah of Hezbollah, it may be premature to call this democracy. A day after that...

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Another “Intelligence” Fiasco

In announcing the president's decision to nominate John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, Condi Rice noted that, as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, Bolton "has held primary responsibility" within the...

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Proxy Wars

The U.S. is confronting China with a variety of issues this coming week as Condoleezza Rice makes her first East Asia appearance as secretary of state. Most of these issues are old problems – namely human rights, the Taiwan Straits, North Korea, and the trade...

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Realists Rout Neocons

As a playground for foreign policy intellectuals of the right, The National Interest has always been safely ensconced in the neoconservative orbit: perhaps that $200,000 per year from Conrad Black had something to do with it. Founded by neocon godfather Irving Kristol...

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False Victories in the War on Terror

In the rush of recent news about renditions, extraordinary renditions, the beating to death and systematic abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan, the holding of children as young as 11 in Abu Ghraib prison, the desire of Donald Rumsfeld to transfer large numbers of...

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The Bolton Nomination: Unipolarity Reaffirmed

Just one week ago, conventional wisdom both here and in European capitals was that President George W. Bush's second term would see a modest turn toward multilateralism and a new readiness to compromise on key issues with traditional U.S. allies. Today, however, that...

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Bolton’s Stewardship

President Bush has nominated John Bolton – currently undersecretary of state – to be ambassador to the United Nations, a presidential appointment that requires Senate confirmation. Will examining Senators focus on what they expect Bolton to accomplish in...

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Rendition, or Outsourcing Torture?

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a major advocacy group, has filed the first challenge to "rendition," known by critics as "outsourcing torture," a practice used by U.S. intelligence agencies to deliver detainees to prisons in countries...

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‘Pseudo-Events’ Stir Mideast Pot

In The Image, Daniel Boorstin's ground-breaking and magisterial study of the rise of the modern media and the public relations profession, the renowned historian coined the term "pseudo-event." He was referring to a "happening" that is designed to...

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