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Even as north-eastern United States clawed its way from a weekend blackout, and the UN mission in Iraq gasped in shock at Tuesday’s massacre at its Baghdad headquarters, the occupied Serbian province of Kosovo was once again in the headlines. A week ago, British historian Kate Hudson noted that the attack on Yugoslavia over Kosovo … Continue reading “Fresh Blood in Kosovo”

The bomb blast that blew up UN headquarters in Baghdad should have pulverized the smug complacency of the Washington policy wonks who openly hail the rise of an American Empire – but I doubt it made much more than a small dent. Only in Washington would it be possible to have a “debate” between Niall … Continue reading “Baghdad Bomb Blasted American Hubris”

The six-way multilateral talks over the North Korean nuclear threat and related issues – among North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States – scheduled for August 25-27, seem unlikely to yield notable breakthroughs. The best hope is probably that they will set up a framework within which the main issue of … Continue reading “Korean Prospects for Peace”

The neocons are – finally! – coming out of the closet. Irving Kristol, the Godfather of the neocons, has come out with the neocon equivalent of a papal bull outlining the ideological parameters of this heretofore mysterious sect, wherein he unveils the secrets of “The Neoconservative Persuasion.” I say “secrets,” because a spate of commentary … Continue reading “The Neocons Come Out”

A plane incident of a different sort is quietly being played out between the Chinese and US governments even as The Six Nations gear up for talks that may lead to temproary peace or disasterous war on the Korean peninsula. As one of the 124 Consulates and embassies around the world with Marine Security Guard … Continue reading “Crouching China, Paper Tiger”

The smart money argues that, rather than merely contemplating a war with Iran, the United States is actually in the advanced stages of a cold war with the Islamic Republic. Such a hypothesis is borne out by myriad texts, including a late July cover story in the Wall Street Journal. “In Tehran, Boutiques Stock Hot … Continue reading “Nafisi the Neocon”

In the terrorism business, it seems, diversity is all the rage. What Hemant Lakhani, an international arms dealer of British nationality and Indian ethnicity, Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed, a Muslim from Malaysia, and Yehuda Abraham, a Jewish-American gem dealer of Afghan descent who works out of New York City’s diamond district, have in common is that … Continue reading “The Real Terror Masters”

From riots in Basra to rumblings at home, it is becoming obvious that the half-witted "plan" to conquer Iraq is slowly smashing against the hard rock of reality. Unfortunately, evidence also indicates that Imperial leaders will not let something as irrelevant as reality disturb their march of power. In an effort to ex post facto … Continue reading “Empires and Balkans Don’t Mix”

So here we go again, it seems. Blood-thirsty Arabs – Lebanese fundamentalists of the Hizbollah, "the Party of God" – bombed the Israeli town of Shlomi (10.8), killing a 15-year-old boy and injuring several others. Terrorist attack on civilians, three years after Israel has withdrawn its very last soldier from Lebanese soil. Isn’t it the … Continue reading “A Case for Hizbollah?”

The battle of Baghdad is over, but the struggle for control of the Bush administration is just now entering its final stages, with the neocons lunging for the State Department and plenty of old-style conservatives and patriots in government returning fire in earnest. Maureen Dowd acidly notes the attempted coup at the Department of State: … Continue reading “Iraq War Critics Purged”