Category: Uncategorized

The most fascinating (albeit somewhat depressing) aspect of the almost non-ongoing discussion over whether former General Barry McCaffrey ordered a slaughter of retreating Iraqi soldiers two days after the cease-fire in the Persian Gulf undeclared war is the almost complete lack of interest in the matter. The New York Times, to its credit, ran an … Continue reading “McCaffrey Bites Back”

While the value of the Euro is taking a tumble in the financial markets, politically the idea of a federal European Union is on the march: leftists and “moderate” conservatives all over Europe are marching to the tune of “Ode to Joy,” the European anthem adapted from the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. A … Continue reading “Quo Vadis Europa?”

The recent Senate vote on the Byrd-Warner amendment to get us out of Kosovo was an object lesson in the way the two government-subsidized “major” parties operate, in practice, as two wings of the War Party; or, as Pat Buchanan puts it, “two wings of the same vulture.” While most Republicans supported the amendment, and … Continue reading “Dubya’s Kosovo Doubletalk”

ELLIOTT STRIKES BACK A few weeks ago, I was innocently cruising the web, when I stumbled on an essay which denounced American business for failure to warmonger. That was an interesting and serious charge. As I scrolled down, great clumps of unalloyed neo-conservative doctrine came tumbling down, as I recall, to the tune of "Mamas, … Continue reading “Neo-Conservative Canes Wogs – Film At Eleven”

The US Congress, at long last, is rising up in rebellion against our Kosovo policy; and, this time, it isn’t just a few Republican back-benchers. A bipartisan coalition of congressional heavyweights is demanding to know: Is there no end to our commitment in the Balkans? The chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Service Committee, Sen. … Continue reading “Kosovo Turnabout–Mutiny in the Senate”

We’ll see if legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh’s story suggesting that former Gulf War commander and now "drug czar" Gen. Barry McCaffrey either ordered or condoned actions that would be viewed as those of a war criminal if done by a foreigner turns out to "have legs," as we say in the business. Gen. McCaffrey … Continue reading “McCaffrey a War Criminal?”

Debates can be fun, and feuds can be a blast if they’re done right. But I’m afraid my recent series of exchanges with National Review Online Editor Jonah Goldberg has degenerated into the kind of ugliness can only be properly answered with a left hook. Now I won’t play the innocent – that won’t work … Continue reading “Sex, Lies and the National Review”

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN Back from rusticating in the kindly shadows of a bodacious western mountain range, I naturally grow thoughtful – first of all, about mountains and music. Americans tend to romanticize mountains, forgetting what our ancestors knew, namely that mountains are bloody great obstacles to migration, unless of course you decide to … Continue reading “The Great Yodeling Conspiracy”

The growing convergence between the ideological extremes of “right” and “left” has been noted, in this column and elsewhere; little noticed, however, has been a corollary development, the drawing in of the political center to a common position that dispenses with the traditional conception of polarized politics. While Pat Buchanan (on the “far” right) and … Continue reading “Clintonizing Intervention: ‘It’s for the Children’”