Imperial Meddling in Jerusalem

The most striking thing about the current violence in the Middle East is the manic meddling by various elements of the "international community," that floating craps game of diplomats, bureaucrats and experts who consider themselves the avatars of good sense and acceptable international behavior. Whether it’s President Clinton frantically working the phones as if this … Continue reading “Imperial Meddling in Jerusalem”

Rebels Against State-Building: The General Crisis of the 17th Century

CONVENTIONAL HISTORIANS AND POLITICAL DISCONTENT Historians often view calamitous periods in human history through too many lenses. Take an imaginary happy kingdom, Ozarkia, ruled over by a hereditary monarch, Clinton Jefferson Williams. Here is a ruler with little interest in public affairs but an abiding interest in private ones. He allows his officials to terrorize … Continue reading “Rebels Against State-Building: The General Crisis of the 17th Century”

Sad Triumph of Reality

Nobody wants to acknowledge the possibility that the current violence in Jerusalem is not so much an anomaly as something like the release of pent-up hostilities on both sides that have been papered over – that there are simply too many unresolved hostilities between Palestinians and Israelis to make talks of a "peace process" anything … Continue reading “Sad Triumph of Reality”

Is the Union Older Than the States?

ANOTHER EXERCISE IN ‘OLD TIMES THERE ARE NOT FORGOTTEN’? I suppose someone might reasonably ask the importance and relevance, at this late date, of the above-named topic. Someone might also ask what such an issue is doing in a column said to be mainly about foreign policy and war. And "Someone," to quote Lonzo and … Continue reading “Is the Union Older Than the States?”

Promoting or Deterring Democracy?

Whether or not there is a runoff election, and even whether or not Slobodan Milosevic leaves office in the near future, it seems likely that the political leadership and perhaps even the political atmosphere in Yugoslavia is about to change seriously. It is still unclear whether the change is likely to be better for the … Continue reading “Promoting or Deterring Democracy?”

Wen Ho Lee, John Deutch and the Future of Intelligence

It remains to be seen whether the impulse has “legs,” as they say in show biz and in that branch of it that they call politics. But the freeing of physicist Wen Ho Lee from solitary confinement in New Mexico has focused renewed attention on the case of John Deutch, the former CIA director who … Continue reading “Wen Ho Lee, John Deutch and the Future of Intelligence”

Some Unsaxon Chronicles

SAXON INSIGHTS CAREFULLY SET FORTH How would our forefathers speak of the wild and crazy times in which we live? I mean, in sooth, our forebears in speech, who gave us our English tongue, wherewith we talk, write, wrangle, and broadly hoodwink one another. I spell this out, lest tightly-wound, high-minded busybodies within the wider … Continue reading “Some Unsaxon Chronicles”

A Libertarian Alternative for Voters

Given Justin Raimondo’s enthusiasm for Pitchfork Pat, perhaps it is mildly out of line on this site. Still, this Web site has always been open to antiwar views from all sides of the spectrum, wheel or whatever metaphor one chooses to represent the variety of political inclinations. So it might not be out of line … Continue reading “A Libertarian Alternative for Voters”

War Is Dead, Hooray, Hooray

AIN’T GONNA STUDY WAR NO MORE By now a large body of work exists which makes the claim that organized, large-scale war between nation-states is waning, obsolete, or just plain gone from the horizon. A good book which makes this argument is John E. Mueller’s Retreat from Doomsday: The Obsolescence of Major War (New York: … Continue reading “War Is Dead, Hooray, Hooray”

Other Side of an Ugly Story

I have followed with great interest the events in Kosovo this past year and I was particularly intrigued by both accounts written by Officer Vincent duCellier that were published in the Washington Times. Officer duCellier, a former Maryland police officer, has selflessly volunteered his time and separation from his family to command the prison in … Continue reading “Other Side of an Ugly Story”