Eastern Empire Rising?

EU Back in the Balkans Following Emperor Bush II's visit to Europe last month, the U.S. seems to have pulled back to the sidelines of Balkans policy, letting its junior partners in Brussels deal with the peninsula. American threats and saber-rattling had produced...

read more

Accountability: Why Not Start at the Top?

The word "accountability" is always bandied about in Washington as the solution for the woes brought on America by the current governing generation. Impassioned calls for accountability from presidents, senators, congressman, as well as media, academic, and social...

read more

Handmaiden of the State

Editorial note: This is the text of a speech delivered before at audience at the Whittier Law School, in Whittier, California, on March 15. Does the media have an obligation to tell the truth? In discussing my topic with Joe Varada – who was kind enough to ask me...

read more

Coming to Terms With China

In our media lives, Asia plays a remarkably small and fragmented role, given its growing importance in the world. In our press, coverage of Asia is a strange jumble of alarums, fears, and trends: the North Korean bomb, avian flu and SARS, the tsunami, the Taiwan "war...

read more

Ultimate Bush Insider Joins Rice at State Department

The most intriguing aspect of U.S. President George W. Bush's nomination of Karen Hughes to take charge of Washington's public diplomacy apparatus – and particularly outreach to the Islamic world – is the building out of which she will be working. The...

read more

Propaganda War Gets a New General

The nomination of one of President George W. Bush's closest advisors to lead U.S. public diplomacy efforts has been met with both hope and skepticism by some leaders in the U.S. foreign policy community. "You need someone who knows something serious about the...

read more

Tom Ridge’s October Surprise

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is trying once again to discover who was rounded up by the Department of Homeland Security in the weeks preceding the November 2004 presidential election "to assure the Arab-American and Muslim communities...

read more

$225 Billion and No Exit Plan

President George W. Bush has now asked Congress and the U.S. taxpayers for the fourth time in two years for more money to fight the Iraq War. This time the request is for $82 billion, the highest amount requested so far. But more striking than the dollar amount is...

read more