Category: Uncategorized

When Umberto Bossi, the leader of Italy’s Northern League – now “Minister of devolution” in the newly-installed government of Silvio Berlusconi – described the European Union (EU) as “the Soviet Union of the West,” Europe’s elites went ballistic: Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel spluttered that Bossi and some of Berlusconi’s other coalition partners “spout values … Continue reading “RED EUROPA”

As President George W. Bush arrived in Europe to the sneers and jeers of the Europeans, coverage of his trip was dominated by a focus on the irrelevant: Star Wars missile defense (we’re going ahead with it, whether they like it or not), America’s position on the anti-technology, anti-Western Kyoto treaty (none of the European … Continue reading “THE CONQUEST OF THE BALKANS”

Just when you were wondering what direction George W. Bush’s foreign policy will be taking, Charles Krauthammer has it all figured out: in his Washington Post column [June 8, 2001] and in the Weekly Standard, the secret doctrine that animates our seemingly random and even haphazard foreign policy – on the surface not all that … Continue reading “THE ‘NEW’ UNILATERALISM”

Various loyal acolytes including CNN, most of the newspapers and the major networks worked diligently to make the killing of Timothy McVeigh into something of a solemn religious event that bolstered the power and dignity of the State and the Empire it fitfully tries to run. But I’m not sure it worked as it might … Continue reading “The State’s Dark Underside”

A CLASSIC WORK REVISITED Albert K. Weinberg’s Manifest Destiny: A Study of Nationalist Expansionism in American History (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1963 [1935]) still repays close and careful reading. Already in 1935, this work brought together most of the themes which would inform the later works of Charles A. Beard as well as the postwar works … Continue reading “The Peculiar U.S. Theory of Self-Defense”

The vortex of intrigue and international politics swirling around the murder of Nepal’s King Birendra – a deed supposedly committed by his own son – and the slaughter of practically the entire royal family threatens to engulf the Himalayan kingdom, and unhinge the delicate balance of power in South Asia. The official story is that … Continue reading “CHAOS IN KATMANDU”

The memoirs of ex-Communists – from the embittered fulminations of Benjamin Gitlow (an early defector from the Left) to the tale of espionage and angst told by Whittaker Chambers in his famous book, Witness – constitute a literary subgenre, one that, with the implosion of Communism, has just about played itself out. It is a … Continue reading “RED DIAPER BABY”

Why is the Japanese media out to get Makiko Tanaka? Ever since she took office, Japan’s “Iron Lady,” the blunt-talking daughter of a former prime minister, has been the target of leaks from within her own Foreign Ministry, and vicious attacks in the Japanese media. The apparent reason is that she has alienated the lifetime … Continue reading “GO, MAKIKO, GO!”

The Bush administration is putting out all sorts of statements that are presumably supposed to be reassuring. I just wonder who is supposed to be reassured by some of these statements. For example, in domestic affairs, the Bushies want to reassure us that they are firmly committed to leaving no child behind and the evidence … Continue reading “Reassuring Nobody?”

This past March, Robert Cassidy – the chief negotiator in bilateral talks with Long Yu Tu, China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, over China’s entry into the World Trade Organization – made a promotional tour of Chinese universities and business organizations pitching the wonders of trade liberalization. Cassidy no doubt expected a standing ovation sprinkled … Continue reading “CHINA ON THE ROAD TO CAPITALISM”