The World Trade Center – monument of the New York business community, towering over downtown Manhattan like twin silver phalli pointed at heaven – is but a pile of smoldering rubble. Crashing down along with this symbol of capitalism, modernity, and...
WAR BY PROXY
I wrote a column subtitled, "How do we know what's going on in Macedonia?," which concluded that I would have to go there myself to find out. But that is really far too general a question for just one short visit, so I'll have to narrow it a bit, and get down to the...
Disband NATO
More than ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, NATO forces, as always led by the Americans, are dancing more than the "Texas Two-Step" in their role of self definition and sought after justification, on the world stage. NATO's image is that of a crippled man...
STANDING UP FOR MACEDONIA
Saturday is "National Day" in Macedonia, the tenth anniversary of its founding – just in time to mark the dissolution of that beleaguered nation. NATO's latest conquest is putting up as much resistance as it can muster, but, at this late date, that doesn't seem...
War on X … When the Metaphor Becomes Too Real
Beyond the day-to-day news out of Palestine or Macedonia, Sudan or Indonesia, a question keeps nagging at some of us. Why is it that politicians, and particularly American politicians, seem so compliant and lackadaisical about the ramifications of endorsing war as a...
WHEELER’S PROGRESS
Author's note: This is a transcript of a talk I gave at the recent Rockford Institute conference on "The American Midwest." It is relevant, here, as a lesson in how modern progressives (who have lost their ideological bearings to such an extent that they are now...
The Ideology of Occupation
In an excellent recent article, leading Palestinian intellectual Edward Said cites the "astounding result" of a poll conducted among US citizens by the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, according to which less than three or four percent of the...
China’s Internet Generation
In today's China, there is a Internet-bar on every street corner. If the bar isn't full, then it must be lunchtime or the Chinese basketball team must be busy beating the Americans. (China won, I saw it happen....) Millions of Chinese pay 2 yuan an hour to chat over...
Sticking with an Andean Disaster
Asa Hutchinson, who left his job as a Republican Congressman from Arkansas to take the position, was confirmed as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration by a 98-1 vote, probably as a courtesy to a congressional old boy. While he has made a few noises suggesting...
WHO KILLED IAN COLLINS?
The death of Ian Collins, a British soldier killed in Macedonia by some kids flinging rocks, has mobilized the British media behind a campaign of anti-Macedonian vitriol: "Macedonian mob kills British soldier" said the lead story in the Telegraph. "Boy gang incited to...