Maliki’s ‘Timetable’ Shakes Iraq Debate

You say you expected more rhetoric than reality from Senators Obama and McCain in their speeches about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Well, that's certainly what you got. What I find nonetheless amazing is how they, and the pundits, have taken such little...

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Unrest Surfaces in Fallujah Again

FALLUJAH - Security has collapsed again in Fallujah, despite US military claims. Local militias supported by US forces claim to have "cleansed" the city, 70 km to the west of Baghdad, of all insurgency. But the sudden resignation of the city's chief of...

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Only Little War Criminals Get Punished

National Public Radio has been spending much news time on Darfur in Western Sudan where a great deal of human suffering and death are occurring. The military conflict has been brought on in part by climate change, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Drought...

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The More Things Change…

This past May, voters in Serbia were subjected to a barrage of propaganda about how the "democratic reformers" would lead the country into a better, prosperous future, while the "nationalists" would somehow plunge it back into the "horrors of...

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Doves Outnumber Hawks in Jewish Community

A new poll suggests that US Jews hold views about the Middle East that are considerably more dovish than frequently acknowledged, with large majorities favoring diplomacy with Iran, supporting a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine, and advocating US withdrawal from...

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Realists Rack Up Another Win

In the seemingly never-ending internal battle between hawks and realists in the administration of US President George W. Bush for control of foreign policy, the realists appear to have chalked up another win over their once-dominant foes. The decision to send the...

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Backtalk, July 16, 2008

Fisking Feith's Faulty Case for War Mr. Henderson: You know what simply amazes me is the lack of insight (or maybe it's just duplicity) of the journalists analyzing or commenting on the rationale for war with Iraq. Not once have I heard anyone question the likelihood...

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Turning the Tables
on the Israel-Firsters

Now that the dust has settled in the spat between journalist Joe Klein and the ideologues at Commentary, it is time to regret the ink spilled over the non-issue of "dual loyalties." The idea that there are U.S. citizens who have equal loyalties to the United...

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Blogging Brobdingnagian Blowback

It was neoconservative pundit Charles Krauthammer who, in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse, inaugurated Washington's unipolar moment. "America is no mere international citizen. It is the dominant power in the world, more dominant than any since Rome,"...

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