Category: Uncategorized

What do we need an “Office of Strategic Influence” for when we have the Wall Street Journal? Not to mention the rest of the American media, which just can’t be as gullible as they seem to be. The latest anthrax stories – Al Qaeda was mixing huge vats of the stuff in the Afghan hinterlands, … Continue reading “Anthrax as a Metaphor”

The established Israeli “Peace Camp” – Peace Now, Meretz, parts of the Labour Party – is under pressure. The “refuseniks” movement – soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied territories – is growing steadily, in what seems to be the most important development in Israeli public life for at least a decade. More than … Continue reading “Against Negotiations”

Conservative columnist George F. Will is upset, claiming that "The war on terrorism is suddenly going terribly wrong." He thinks that "more than six months into the war on terror, terror is more indicated as a tactic than ever before." Will is upset, as are many conservatives and neocons, that the United States is once … Continue reading “The Terrorists Are Winning”

IDF Soldiers fired live ammunition into the crowd of people, stalled cars, trucks, taxis, buses, and UN vehicles just south of the Deir al-Balah checkpoint in the Gaza Strip this morning. This is a "no news" day. I’m writing about it because I was standing in the crowd, and then crouching in the dust to … Continue reading “Cease Fire?”

Eight tanks rolled into Rafah (southern Gaza Strip) early this morning to quell a "disturbance" by the people. It seems some Palestinians were upset over the death of a four year old girl. Did the news there even bother to inform you that she was shot? Yes, on Thursday a four-year-old girl became one of … Continue reading “Gaza Panorama”

Many are baffled by the Bush administration’s fixation on Iraq as the next target in our perpetual “war on terrorism.” After all, there’s no proven link between Saddam and 9/11, or Iraq and the anthrax scare – in spite of strenuous efforts to link Baghdad to both – so why is Dubya going off on … Continue reading “Our Hijacked Foreign Policy”

I was recently asked why I thought it was a bad idea for the President to initiate a war against Iraq. I responded by saying that I could easily give a half a dozen reasons why; and if I took a minute, I could give a full dozen. For starters, here is a half a … Continue reading “Why Initiate War on Iraq?”

Many are baffled by the Bush administration’s fixation on Iraq as the next target in our perpetual “war on terrorism.” After all, there’s no proven link between Saddam and 9/11, or Iraq and the anthrax scare – in spite of strenuous efforts to link Baghdad to both – so why is Dubya going off on … Continue reading “Our Hijacked Foreign Policy”

In my last column I did my best to summarize a very disagreeable book. Today, I will be looking at another rather short book, which has an interesting and important central theme. That theme is that “warfare against civilians must never be answered in kind”1 – further, that such warfare is everywhere and always “self-defeating” … Continue reading “ONE LESSON IS BETTER THAN NONE”

I rise to introduce legislation expressing the sense of Congress that the United States government should not revive military conscription. Supporters of conscription have taken advantage of the events of September 11 to renew efforts to reinstate the military draft. However, reviving the draft may actually weaken America’s military. Furthermore, a military draft violates the … Continue reading “Conscription: A Tradition of Slavery”