As the United States steps up border raids into Pakistan, troops from both countries have commenced a deadly game of brinkmanship. Although aimed at asserting each other's military presence along the Pakistan-Afghan border, the skirmishes risk outright hostilities....
Tuesday: 2 US Soldiers, 14 Iraqis Killed; 20 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 7:45 p.m. EDT, Oct. 7, 2008At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 20 more were wounded. Two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate incidents as well. Meanwhile, Turkey continued to pound northern Iraq with air strikes. Also, Iraq has now formally approved the...
Evidence of Decline
I have had to listen to the presidential and vice presidential debates and comment on them, often enough in real time, as part of my job, but sometimes it feels as if it's a form of penance for my sins. To keep this as understated as possible, these are not...
VP Debate an Exchange of Disinformation
The Oct. 2 debate between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was disturbing for those of us hoping for a more enlightened and honest foreign policy during the next four years. In its aftermath, pundits mainly focused on Palin's failure to...
Down the Road to Serfdom
Threatening an imminent economic collapse, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke have bamboozled Congress into enacting the most brazen confiscatory scheme ever concocted by government. The scheme would have American taxpayers fork over $700...
Al-Qaeda in the Caucasus
Whatever one expected from the aftermath of the Russo-Georgian war, surely a car bomb was not among the first choices yet that is precisely what has occurred. As Russian forces prepared to leave security zones in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the wake of...
Spying on the Future
The year is 2010 and, yes, Saddam Hussein is gone and there are no American troops in Iraq, but, as the report suggests, "the challenge will be to see whether a modern, secular successor government emerges that does not threaten its neighbors" especially since...
Monday: 2 Iraqis Killed, 1 Wounded
Few reports of violence came out of Iraq today. At least two Iraqis were killed and another was wounded in them. In a speech, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called for strengthening the federal government. Meanwhile, the head of Iraq's independent electoral commission...
Sunday: 26 Iraqis Killed, 13 Wounded
Updated at 8:08 p.m. EDT, Oct. 5, 2008At least 26 Iraqis were killed and 13 more were wounded in the latest round of violence. Reports resumed out of Mosul after several days of relative quiet, but now Baghdad appears unusually peaceful. Meanwhile, a Turkish general...
In Politics, If You Have to Be Honest, Wait Until the End of Your Term
In politics, truth telling can be dangerous. Remember when Jimmy Carter was voted out of office, in part, for telling the American people, in a time of high inflation and unemployment, what they didn't want to hear that they were self indulgent and consumed...


