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Well, we’re certainly teaching the Iraqi people about democracy – and as it is actually practiced, which is not necessarily the way those whose exposure has been limited to civics textbooks might expect it to be practiced. It features intrigue, behind-the-scenes maneuvering and positioning among forces who want to win out at some point, careerism … Continue reading “Hard Lessons in Democracy”

Justin is ill today, but his column will be back on Wednesday. Here is a classic column from last year. June 10, 2002A C-Net news item, with the ominous title of "FBI digs deeper into the Web," details how the feds will be tracing the digital trails people leave as they surf the internet, and … Continue reading “Classic Raimondo: Living in Soviet America”

Westernization is proceeding smoothly in Iraq, if imitation of Israel is your yardstick, anyway. Iraqis have demonstrated that they too can evict Palestinians, and with admirable swiftness. You see, many of those who fled to Iraq after 1948 were placed, ironically, in the confiscated homes of dissidents. Now, as if to remind the Palestinians that … Continue reading “We’re All Israelis Now – Except for the Palestinians”

In 1967, as the War in Vietnam dragged on and on, Carl Oglesby, then President of Students for a Democratic Society, commented on how the Right Wing saw that war. Most of the Right, he noted, “accepts the political description” of the war and, therefore, “wants it the war to be more fiercely waged.”(1) In … Continue reading “Asymmetric Politics”

The mystery of 9/11 only gets murkier as time goes on. How did a rag-tag group of 19 (plus one) conspirators manage to hijack three airliners and crash them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon – without so much as a small blip showing on law enforcement’s radar screen? We may never know … Continue reading “Smoking Gun”

One thing that more than anything else defines the contemporary patchwork of states that used to be Yugoslavia – with the notable exception of Slovenia – are the 1990s Succession Wars. They are the Genesis myth, at the heart of their governments’ source of legitimacy and their leaders’ claim to power. No longer just the … Continue reading “Worshippers of Power and Violence”

The mad dogs of war, unleashed by George W. Bush, are baying and barking up a storm. The War Party isn’t resting on its laurels. The conquest of Iraq had hardly been celebrated by our President, as he landed on an aircraft carrier in a fighter jet and bounded out to meet his cheering Praetorians, … Continue reading “Mad Dogs of War”

I‘ve been surprised by the number of libertarians who have supported the war against Iraq. The two principal arguments I’ve heard from libertarian war-supporters are: 1. Saddam Hussein is a threat to the U.S. We must remove him from power before he attacks us or gives weapons of mass destruction to terrorists. 2. We libertarians … Continue reading “Libertarians and War”

With the naming of former ambassador L. Paul Bremer as something of a co-consul proconsul (the news accounts say he will be in charge with former Gen. Jay Garner his subordinate but the real picture at this point is still a little fuzzy, the administration has apparently done its best to put a civilian face … Continue reading “A Civilian Face on Imperialism”

An Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, is one of the few media outlets worldwide to focus on the Israeli far-right’s effort to undermine the much-touted "road map" that Bush is throwing like a bone after a banquet to the family pet. The administration is touting its peace plan to give the appearance of the U.S. as an … Continue reading “Whose ‘Road Map’?”