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In late November, the Washington Post ran a story that stopped me dead in my tracks: “60 Israelis on Tourist Visas Detained Since Sept. 11,” but it was the subhead that really got my attention: “Government Calls Several Cases ‘of Special Interest,’ Meaning Related to Post-Attacks Investigation.” In addition to the 1000-plus Middle Easterners of … Continue reading “9/11: The Truth Comes Out”

Along with the long term and painful solutions of economic (and political?) reform and personal sacrifice, Zhu also provided a short-term solution to the problem: a 17.6 percent hike in defense spending to combat "hostile forces inside and outside of China." Targeted aggressors included the convenient Fa Lun Gong, religious extremists and terrorists and generally … Continue reading “1.3 Billion Problems For China”

It’s called the most important trial since Nuremberg; yet, of the over 100 TV channels at my disposal, not one carries it. Curious, since for the past ten years the media and the major TV channels couldn’t wait to spin all the sordid details of mutilations, murders, torture and charges of genocide that the accused, … Continue reading “The Case of the Invisible Trial, or ‘Where’s the Beef?’”

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”