I haven’t said anything much so far about Hugo Chavez, who recently won the Venezuelan election handily. Take a look at what Fausta’s written about it for some perspective. It’s a sorry tale but not an unfamiliar one: demagoguery, Leftism, … Continue reading →
Listening to part of President Bush’s press conference in Estonia (see the middle section of the linked article for a small discussion), two things struck me. The first was the support Bush still gets from a country such as Estonia, … Continue reading →
Last night I was talking to my fellow Sanity Squad members after taping this week’s podcast (no, it’s not online yet, but should be soon). The session you hear is usually just the tip of the iceberg for us. As … Continue reading →
Ah those helpful young men of Hezbollah! See this. For those of you without access to the NY Times, here’s the gist of the article: Hezbollah’s reputation as an efficient grass-roots social service network ”” as opposed to the Lebanese … Continue reading →
The story “The Man Without a Country” used to be standard reading matter for seventh graders. In fact, it was the first “real” book–as opposed to those tedious Dick and Jane readers–that I ever was assigned to read in school. … Continue reading →
It’s the holiday season, and one of those rare years when Passover and Easter come close together, as they did during the original Easter. So I get a twofer when I wish my readers “Happy Holidays!” In recent years whenever … Continue reading →
He’s done it again; here’s a must-read post from Wretchard of Belmont Club. It was sparked by an article by Robert Kaplan appearing in the Atlantic (subscribers only), entitled “The Coming Normalcy.” This, in turn, was a sequel to an … Continue reading →
Via Austin Bay, I came across this article from the Telegraph, on the Hamas victory: It was not supposed to be like this. For the past two years, America has pursued the idea that democracy is the answer to Islamist … Continue reading →
In a public park in the small town of Meerut in northern India (named, ironically enough, after Gandhi, famous advocate of nonviolence) the police went on a rampage against–of all things–necking couples, for what in my youth used to call … Continue reading →
Others are covering the news in great depth (I recommend, in particular, the entire front page of Mudville Gazette for a good roundup and links; as well as the horse’s mouth, the one and only Iraq the Model). But I … Continue reading →
I’m visiting relatives who subscribe to the New York Review of Books, a publication that isn’t ordinarily my favorite reading matter. But whenever I’m here I can’t resist the temptation to pick it up, despite the fact that I know … Continue reading →
Fortunately, things have been peaceful. Whether the high turnout in Sunni areas will bode poorly for the fledgling constitution remains to be seen. Iraq the Model has an interesting reminiscence on elections past: I am so excited but a flashback … Continue reading →