Commenter “Sergey” has contributed a wonderful piece of folk wisdom about international law and its enforceability: In old Russia there was a proverbial Yiddish saying on usefulness of formalities of law in dealing with those who do not respect law: … Continue reading →
Iran and Ahmadinejad have once again demonstrated the great and awesome power of the UN and their fear of its sanctions, in Iran’s continued defiance of the UN’s call for limitations on its nuclear program. Although Kofi Annan made a … Continue reading →
Victor Davis Hanson has written a compelling piece on the current moral malaise in the West and its pernicious effects. It’s a topic many of us have been hammering home lately, although Hanson–as usual–says it especially well. Hanson makes a … Continue reading →
The casualties at Qana are horrific. The visuals are heartrending, and the details sorrowful–especially the predominance of women and children among the dead. We are biologically predisposed to want to protect children–to love them, to smile when we see them. … Continue reading →
There’s an old saying, rendered variously as: When elephants fight, it’s the mice who must tremble. When elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers. The applicability to the current situation in the Middle East? When Hezbollah goads Israel from its … Continue reading →
Now, how could proportionality in war be dangerous? First, before I attempt an answer to that question, here’s a great post by Betsy Newmark (via the Anchoress) on the widespread European international community’s condemnation of Israel’s response to the attacks … Continue reading →
No, that’s not a typo above. I didn’t mean “Zero diplomacy,” I meant “Zeno diplomacy.” What’s Zeno diplomacy? It’s described in this article by Robert Tracinski, a writer with whom I wasn’t previously familiar but who appears to be an … Continue reading →
I was rummaging around the house where I’m staying, looking for something to read, when I encountered an old favorite from my childhood, choreographer Agnes De Mille’s memoir And Promenade Home. While skimming through it, I came across a passage … Continue reading →
In Part I I tried to advance some arguments as to why the Iraq war is so hated. Here are a few more. Neither that post nor this one is meant to be exhaustive. One of the main justifications for … Continue reading →
The war in Iraq is especially hated. Of course, all wars are hated by most thoughtful people, since they involve bloodshed and suffering. And havoc. It’s not for nothing that Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar: “Cry havoc, and let loose … Continue reading →
In my post on the unfortunate tendency of revolutions to devour their own, Elmondohummus made the following comment: Such movements, such revolutions, tend not to be the wonderfully exciting, meaningful, free places that participants imagine, but coldhearted, calculating monoliths of … Continue reading →
Christopher Hitchens (previously no special friend of Israel’s) deconstructs Juan Cole’s Dowdification of Ahmadinejad’s threats to Israel in this Slate article (via Austin Bay) entitled “The Cole Report: when it comes to Iran, he distorts, you decide.” Hitchens’s contention is … Continue reading →