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It was Christmas Day, and Walied Shatter, a bodyguard to the President of the United States, couldn’t get a flight to Dallas. Not that he didn’t have a reservation, or a ticket: both had been made and paid for by his employer, the Secret Service, well in advance. The problem was the pilot: no way … Continue reading “The Pilot Who Lost His Cool”

A Chinese Foreign Ministry official declared today that China will not engage in peacemaking efforts in South Asia. The conflict between Pakistan and India is an affair that should and will be resolved by the two longtime enemies and all China can do is offer "moral persuasion." The official, Ms. Fu Ying, emphasized the vital … Continue reading “No Peacemaker”

What passes in most media accounts as the “international community,” that floating collection of international diplomats who seem to have a stronger sense of loyalty to the international system, the ideal of diplomacy and agreements as ends in themselves – not to mention all the cushy international conferences – than to their own countries of … Continue reading “Strange Versions of Democracy”

This war has already increased the power of government by leaps and bounds, and liberals were quick to sense their opportunity. Senator Tom Daschle wasted no time in going on the offensive on the tax issue, and the liberal punditocracy, from Al Hunt to the Washington Post, gleefully proclaimed that "big government is back!" The … Continue reading “The Big Change (Part II)”

As a post-9/11 bromide, "everything’s changed" has become a journalistic mantra, a theme with endless variations endlessly repeated, and it is easy to become thoroughly sick of it, and suspicious at the same time. For, if "everything’s changed," then perhaps we don’t need the Bill of Rights anymore, as a virtually unanimous Congress agreed in … Continue reading “The Big Change (Part I)”

To address this question, there is little need to tackle the present “war.” The whole thing is a bit of a muddle anyway. War hasn’t exactly been “declared” constitutionally, yet the whole thing can be said to rest on a broad-beamed class of 20th-century precedents, from at least 1940 forward. Combined with ad hoc international … Continue reading “Conserving Nothing”

There is no denying the vast gulf of difference separating the USA from the PRC. No two countries could be more dissimilar in so many ways. Minneapolitans have been whining for years about the traffic jams clogging up all the major highways in the Twin Cities. I can now guffaw, for I have seen true … Continue reading “Back in the USA”

It’s amazing, really, when you think about it: no sooner had the Pakistan-India conflict reared up as a consequence of America’s "new war," then Israel’s amen corner in the US had already taken up the cudgels on New Delhi’s behalf. Gee, these guys are fast. That always-reliable barometer of elite opinion, Andrew Sullivan, succinctly summarized … Continue reading “India’s ‘Amen Corner’”

First, they came for the terrorists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a terrorist. Then they came for the foreigners, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a foreigner. Then they came for the Arab-Americans, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t Arab-American. Then they came for the radical dissenters, and … Continue reading “Talkin’ About the F-Word”

Last weekend President Bush said, in response to questions about when the war in Afghanistan might be over, that he would stay in touch with Tommy Franks and other military commanders and declare victory the moment the military experts said the task was done – and not one moment sooner. In so doing he reinforced … Continue reading “Making Artificial Distinctions”