Category: Uncategorized

I could be imagining it, but I thought I detected some notes of bitterness as Charles Gibson of ABC-TV’s "Good Morning America" interviewed the wife and twin brother of Chief Warrant Officer Stanley Harriman of North Carolina, one of seven or eight Americans killed on the ground in Afghanistan last Saturday. The family members said … Continue reading “The War Comes Home”

In our victimological culture, where every official minority group under the sun lays claim to special rights and privileges, the impact of political correctness on foreign policy is substantial, and increasing. During the Kosovo war, for example, the fact that the Serbs are Christians, and the Albanians mostly Muslims weighed heavily against the former. The … Continue reading “Victimology and Foreign Policy”

Does it matter if you win an important political battle with bad arguments? The natural Tory reaction, honing straight in on that evasive little word, ‘bad’, is to reply: not a bit, winning’s the thing. After all, who’s to say what being bad in this context amounts to? And as a guide to happy, or … Continue reading “How To Say No?”

After five months of unthinking unanimity, deluded triumphalism, and self-righteous posturing, some in Congress appear to be awakening from the war trance that gripped the nation after 9/11 – and not a moment too soon. Republicans went ballistic when Senator Tom Daschle stated the obvious: that the war won’t be a success until and unless … Continue reading “The Tide Turns”

March 2, 2002 Third World Kaplan and the Empire of Gloom A TRACT FOR OUR TIMES Robert D. Kaplan has made a name for himself writing politically tinged travelogues from various Third World pest-holes and global hot spots for the Atlantic Monthly. Now, in his new book, Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos … Continue reading “Third World Kaplan and the Empire of Gloom”

Occupation, as I mentioned in an earlier column, is one of the most unpopular terms in media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In fact, some people say there is no occupation at all, meaning that occupation is not the right term to refer to Israel’s presence in the territories occupied in 1967 – the Gaza … Continue reading “Occupation Vs. Democracy”

A Note from the editor: Matt Welch‘s analysis of conflicting claims over the effect of sanctions on Iraq, published in Reason magazine, is typical of the "war-blogger" mentality: preening arrogance and pretensions to a strict just-the-facts standard. When he isn’t sneering at Noam Chomsky, and otherwise critiquing the politics of sanctions critics, he accuses the … Continue reading “Re: The Politics of Dying Children by Matt Welch”

In my last column, I pointed to the probable genesis of the mysterious anthrax letters – a clique of former US scientists, including one in particular who had been fired from his US government job at Fort Detrick’s biowar research lab – and complained that a government cover-up was in the works. The piece was … Continue reading “The Plot Sickens”

Last year, The Daily Telegraph sponsored a conference in London on the contentious subject of Star Wars – or to foreign policy bores like you and me, National Missile Defence. We will straight-away pass up on the cheap shot about, ‘uh, which nation’s that then, that’s going to be defended?’ and instead consider the enthusiastic … Continue reading “Not So MAD Then?”

The “trial” of Slobodan Milosevic couldn’t have come at a better time. As the US rampages through Afghanistan, bombing friend and foe alike, openly gearing up for an excursion into Iraq – all the name of a holy “war on terrorism” – the double standard operating here is almost comically obvious. THE RAPE OF YUGOSLAVIA … Continue reading “Go, Slobo, Go!”