With new anti-government demonstrations expected in Cairo and other Egyptian cities Tuesday, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama appears to have concluded that the 29-year reign of President Hosni Mubarak is coming to an end. But it hopes to avoid calling publicly for Mubarak’s departure, even as U.S. officials are scrambling to engage the …
Continue reading “Obama Looking Beyond Mubarak”
It was a coincidence but an enlightening one. As I heard of Sarah Palin’s cartoon cross hairs trained on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and other politicians along with Barack Obama’s condemnation of violence, I happened to be tuning into a TV documentary on WikiLeaks. There, 30 minutes into the video, I found myself staring into real …
Continue reading “Sarah Palin’s Cross Hairs – and Obama’s”
Perhaps President Barack Obama should give himself a waiver on the ban prohibiting U.S. government employees from downloading classified cables released by WikiLeaks, so he can get a better grasp on the futility of his Afghan War strategy. For instance, if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has hidden from him Ambassador Karl Eikenberry’s cables from …
Continue reading “Obama Should Read WikiLeaks on Afghanistan”
“Show me your company, and I’ll tell you who you are,” my grandmother would often say with a light Irish lilt but a heavy emphasis, an admonition about taking care in choosing what company you keep. On Thursday, I could sense her smiling down through the snow as I stood pinned to the White House …
Continue reading “Thoughts at the White House Fence”
Vlahos : how the Clintonian revival never came to be
On Nov. 25, 2010, the occupation of Afghanistan by United States and NATO forces had already lasted nine years and 50 days. This date is a significant milestone, Jason Ditz of Antiwar.com points out, because nine years and 50 days is also how long the Soviet occupation of that country lasted. “That is how long …
Continue reading “Participate in a Real ‘December Review’ of the War in Afghanistan”
The stuck pigs are squealing. To shift the onus from the U.S. State Department, Hillary Clinton paints WikiLeaks’ release of the “diplomatic cables” as an “attack on the international community.” To reveal truth is equivalent, in the eyes of the U.S. government, to an attack on the world. It is WikiLeaks’ fault that all those …
Continue reading “Who, Precisely, Is Attacking the World?”
Before Republican senators vote down the strategic arms reduction treaty negotiated by the Obama administration, they should think long and hard about the consequences. In substance, New START has none of the historic significance of Richard Nixon’s SALT I or ABM treaty, or Jimmy Carter’s SALT II, or Ronald Reagan’s INF treaty removing all intermediate-range …
Continue reading “Is GOP Risking a New Cold War?”
You must have had a moment when you thought to yourself: It really isn’t going to end, is it? Not ever. Rationally, you know perfectly well that whatever your “it” might be will indeed end, because everything does, but your gut tells you something different. I had that moment recently when it came to the …
Continue reading “The Stimulus Package in Kabul”
Editorial note: What follows is the transcript of a speech given in Danbury, Conn., and Boston, Mass., under the auspices of the Ridgefield Liberty Forum and the Boston chapter of ComeHomeAmerica.org, respectively. We’ve just had an election in which no mention was made of the two wars we are now fighting. Now that may seem …
Continue reading “Getting Beyond ‘Left’ and ‘Right’” 
