Why attack Syria?
Is Obama really going to attack Assad’s regime in Syria, or is he just talking? And if he does attack, how far will he go, and what is his ultimate goal? There’s no dearth of speculation on all those questions. … Continue reading →
Category Archives: War and Peace
The fog…
…of chemical war, in Syria. Ascertaining the truth is often difficult. Ascertaining the truth in that region of the world is even more difficult, as the article points out: Syrian state media confirms that chemical weapons were used in the … Continue reading →
Sherman on kinder, gentler war
Did William Tecumsah Sherman foresee the future?: Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster. But his words seem archaic and bloodthirsty to most non-Jacksonian modern liberal ears: War is the remedy that our … Continue reading →
This is why theft of classified information is a crime, and why Snowden is both a spy and a traitor
Strong words, no? But I stand by them. First, read this Vanity Fair article. I hadn’t yet read it when I wrote the first draft of this post, but it only solidifies just about everything I was already going to … Continue reading →
Michael Totten…
…on Syria. It’s not always true that the devil we know beats the devil we don’t. Worth reading.
Continue reading →On patience: the West vs. Islamicist totalitarianism
[NOTE: This is a re-post of an piece I wrote in 2008. I found it yesterday while doing a search for some information I wanted for a comment, and I thought that, in light of recent news in Syria and … Continue reading →
Obama’s Arab Spring,…
…making the world safe* for Islamicists. I called it Obama’s Arab Spring, but that’s a bit unfair, because although he has a big role I’m not at all sure that anyone could have prevented this. The Arab world is what … Continue reading →
Here’s my question about Syria
Who are the rebels? My strong suspicion is that there are few good guys here. It was the same question I asked about Egypt and Libya. In both places there were some “good guy” elements mixed among the Islamicist fanatics, … Continue reading →
Distrust vs. security, domestic and foreign: Part I
Richard Fernandez always has something interesting to say, and this post of his is no exception: For much of history our ability to harm ourselves was fortunately limited by the crude nature of our means. But by the dawn of … Continue reading →
Daniel Ellsberg on Edward Snowden: leaks then and now
Not surprisingly, Daniel Ellsberg thinks Edward Snowden’s a great hero. I’ve written at length about Ellsberg before: a historical look here, and especially this one about his more recent activities (including, interestingly enough, a group he formed a few years … Continue reading →
“We faced the dragon. And we came out of it.”
[BUMPED UP] I saw a moving piece about the 40th reunion of the Vietnam prisoners of war, who were reunited last Thursday at the Nixon Library on the anniversary of their welcome home celebration at the White House. It was … Continue reading →
As the news dribbles out…
…here are some interesting tidbits (offered, of course, with the caveat that so much of the news about this story has been mistaken). Was this man the inspiration for the older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev? Note the boxing background which they … Continue reading →