Jiang Zemin's visit to Bush's ranch on Friday may prove decisive for US plans to wage war in Iraq. The Chinese government is thoroughly enjoying its relatively neutral stance throughout the War on Terrorism, while reaping the benefits of having its own "terrorist...
A MAN NAMED MUHAMMAD
The response of some to the capture of the Maryland sniper, John Allen Williams, a.k.a .John Allen Muhammad, illustrates an idea that has been preoccupying me of late: the relationship (if any) between ideology and truth. Ideology of any sort inevitably distorts the...
Casus Belli
[Lat. casus – opportunity, occasion; bellum,-i –war] Not a day goes by in which the inhabitants of the Balkans are not reminded, in some way, that they are servants of the Empire. On top of the visible legacy of imperial intervention, its hidden consequences...
PATRIOTS FOR PEACE
When Mother Jones magazine asked me to contribute an article on the present state of the movement against the Iraq war – and what to do about it – I was delighted to comply. After all, I've been inveighing against the sad state of the antiwar movement for...
What’s In A Question?
Question: what is the modern Tory definition of leadership? Answer: asking a question. This at least was how William Hague told it over the Euro. And I say this as someone who came to see a lot of merit in him by the end – this certainly was a man you could...
Bending Posse Comitatus Brings Bad Results
Perhaps I should not have been surprised, but I was at least somewhat appalled that with the wall-to-wall coverage the issue received almost no attention. But the use of a military surveillance plane to try to capture the notorious Beltway murderer raises serious...
SMEARING THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT
As if to confirm what some opponents of this war have been saying – but not too loudly – about this being a war for Israel, the Bush administration is now "weighing an Israeli proposal for a joint operation in Iraq's western desert to disarm Iraqi...
Armageddon
When we go to war in Iraq we will do so to summon the Messiah. That is what the Christian right believes. The final battle to rid the world of all non-believers, non-Christians, more exactly non-Evangelical Christians, is going to take place very soon at Armageddon in...
NORTH KOREA’S HALLOWEEN SURPRISE
Another day, another threat of war – this time on the North Korean front. Surely Pyongyang's startling admission that indeed it is actively pursuing the nuclear option – "and more powerful things as well," according to this New York Times report...
THE SNIPER
Monomania is the chief characteristic of most madmen, and so it is with those who are clamoring for war. By monomania I mean a fixation, or obsession, that colors perceptions and makes normal interaction with the world difficult, if not well nigh impossible. Your...