Increasingly frustrated over its failure to get North Korea back to the negotiating table, the administration of President George W. Bush is taking new steps virtually certain to escalate tensions with the third spoke in his original "axis of evil," analysts said....
Bush Raises Stakes With
Death and ‘Sketchy Details’ in Iraq
Yesterday Iraq's Minister of Defense, Sadoun al-Dulaimi, announced that starting Saturday 40,000 Iraqi troops will seal Baghdad and begin to "hunt down insurgents and their weapons." Baghdad will be divided into two main sections, east and west, and within each...
Media Silence on Memorial Day
Memorial Day weekend brings media rituals. Old Glory flutters on television and newsprint. Grave ceremonies and oratory pay homage to the fallen. Many officials and pundits speak of remembering the dead. But for all the talk of war and remembrance, no time is more...
Crossing Nuclear Thresholds
Call it Star Wars, parts VII-XXII; but last week, just as Revenge of the Sith was opening galaxy-wide multiplexes on Tatooine alone were expected to pull in billions reporter Tim Weiner revealed on the front page of the New York Times that a new...
Kurds Still Without Govt After January Poll
ARBIL, Iraq - The two main Kurdish parties have still not reached agreement on setting up a regional government and parliament after elections held Jan. 30. In that election Kurds voted for the National Assembly and also for a 111-seat regional parliament. A coalition...
The Pipeline From Hell
George W. Bush's arrival at the Moscow commemoration of V-E Day was preceded and followed by open provocations. The stopover in Riga, Latvia's capital, was a stinging reminder to the Russians that this former Soviet satellite state, conquered by Stalin as a result of...
The Lesson for the Left in Star Wars
There is much to be said for the political allusions and messages of the Star Wars epic now that we are able to see it completely. In both very broad and very particular ways, there are stunning and prescient allegories to our own time. With episodes I and II, we...
Afghanistan: An Imperial Dilemma
Afghanistan, where in recent weeks U.S. troops have been killed at a higher rate than in Iraq, has evolved into something of a classic imperial dilemma for the United States. The administration desperately wants to put the best possible face on the situation there,...
Poverty and the Seeds of Terrorism in Our Own Back Yard
In 2001, I spent several weeks trekking through remote villages in the highlands and rainforests of Ecuador. It was the same summer that the Bush administration announced the Andean Regional Initiative (ARI), an expansion of policies started under the Clinton...
Bolton Confirmation Would Shatter Intelligence Analysts’ Morale
Few have more at stake in the expected Senate approval of John Bolton to be U.S. representative at the UN than the remnant of demoralized intelligence analysts trained and still willing to speak truth to power. What would be the point in continuing, they ask, when...


