Iran deal is reached
We knew it was coming. We’ve known it for a long, long time. So here it is (lots of articles and reactions at the link). These are my initial thoughts (I plan to write more a bit later in the … Continue reading →
Category Archives: War and Peace
Iran talks: on and on and on they go…
…and where they stop, nobody knows. But we can be pretty sure it won’t be anyplace good. I’ve written a lot about the current Iran negotiations, but don’t take the fact that I haven’t written about them lately to mean … Continue reading →
The battle of Castle Itter
Here’s quite a story—a description of one of the very last battles at the close of WWII, one in which the Wehrmacht and the Allies fought together against the Waffen-SS.
Continue reading →The NY Times tries really, really hard…
…to parse Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s latest remarks in a way that doesn’t make President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry look like fools, dupes, appeasers, or traitors. It’s a difficult task, and I can’t say that the Times succeeds. … Continue reading →
D-Day: 71 years
[NOTE: The following is a repeat of a post from the 65th anniversary of D-day. I have added a small amount of new commentary to update.] Today is the 71th anniversary of D-Day, the Normandy landings in WWII. Here’s a … Continue reading →
Thoughts on Memorial Day 2015
I have a few Memorial Day posts that I tend to put up every year. It’s the easy way out, and saves me some work, although I always look at them and revise them if necessary. It’s often necessary, because … Continue reading →
Memorial Day: if you’re reading this…
I’ve posted this song before, but I think it bears repeating, especially on Memorial Day. It’s Tim McGraw’s extraordinarily moving song “If You’re Reading This:” If you’re readin’ this My momma’s sittin’ there Looks like I only got a one … Continue reading →
Here’s another book for the liberals on your gift list
Emma Sky has written a book entitled The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq. A review can be found here, and it sounds fascinating, although I haven’t read it. A British Oxford-educated progressive with extensive experience in the … Continue reading →
Bearing witness to the Reich
I have continued to read Victor Klemperer’s two-volume diary I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years (I’ve written about the book before, here and here). Klemperer was in an unusual position in Germany. Although born a Jew, … Continue reading →
Corker-Menedez passes with overwhelming Senate majority
It isn’t often you see a majority of this magnitude: The vote on cloture on the Corker-Menendez bill was 93-6; the final vote on the merits, 98-1. With that, the Senate rebuked the White House’s plan to avoid Congress entirely … Continue reading →
A child but not a child
Here’s a stirring story of another courageous rescuer during World War II and the Holocaust: In an emotional ceremony on Tuesday, the Holocaust memorial Rabbi Lau now chairs posthumously granted Feodor Mikhailichenko Israel’s highest honor for non-Jews. “This closes a … Continue reading →
A look ahead to our withdrawal from Iraq
[NOTE: I happened across this post from 2006 when I was looking for something today. It struck me so forcibly—and sadly—that I thought it would be a good idea to publish it again. Note especially the prescient quotes from the … Continue reading →