197 articles
Here's an unofficial translation of a Project Harmony document (thank you Powerline) on the flow of truck traffic from Iraq into Syria prior to the March 2003 invasion. No one knows with any certainty what was in the trucks, but it's been pretty well established that there was a heavy traffic flow…
We will know whether the latest security strategy for Baghdad has worked in the coming weeks but comparisons to Beirut are not encouraging. The AFP reports that the "mood in Sunni west Baghdad turns in favor of US troops" but also quotes Maj. Coulson: "Right now we're kind of at that level that…
LATE LAST WEEK, the Israeli cabinet decided not to expand its ground offensive in southern Lebanon. This decision can be read, in part, as a capitulation to the "international community," which has, since the start of Israel's defensive war on Hezbollah more than two weeks ago, called for a…
ON JULY 26, 1956, President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, at that time the most vital international waterway in the world. The Middle East, and all of us, still live under the shadow of the fateful events his decision triggered 50 years ago. Even more than the Cold War,…
A Spiegel Catalog of Anti-Americanism
Tel Aviv
I was out on the patio the other day wondering (as writers of conservative opinion pieces constantly do) what's wrong with America. I noticed a tag affixed to my collapsible canvas deck chair, and my wondering ceased. What's wrong with America was printed on the tag:
AS THE CONFLICT between Israel and Hezbollah continues to escalate in Lebanon, one of the most alarming discoveries since the beginning of the fighting has been the variety, as well as the capabilities, of the weaponry employed by Hezbollah.
The colonel was just back from Iraq when we met with him in the fall of 2005. He spoke in the blunt way of a soldier who had served 25 years in elite secret units. He had been in plenty of precarious situations and had the battle scars to show for it. The special operations unit he commanded knew…
Damascus
NO ONE should have been surprised by President Bush's let-Israel-fight policy in the current Middle East conflict. Bush is consistent. The essentials of his approach to Israel and its enemies were adopted four years ago when the president ostracized then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and called…
Politics Lost
Among the Dead Cities
ON JULY 10, a group of terrorists entered a campground in Gouraya, a Mediterranean resort 75 miles from Algiers, and randomly massacred 5 people. The victims were among the 22 killed by terrorists in Algeria in the first half of July--putting that month on track to be a little less bloody than…
FOR MORE THAN TWENTY years, Pope John Paul II showed a way to work for the defeat of totalitarianism. It was not by armies, although it relied on the threat of American power to keep the dictators from military adventures. And it was not by appeasement, although it knew how to practice patience…
Absurdistan
Last summer, when Oprah re-launched her book club by promoting three of William Faulkner's novels--As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, and Light in August--I had to wonder what on earth he would have thought of it. To say nothing of a full-page ad in the New York Times telling readers they…
On Tuesday, July 18, in Tehran, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke to his countrymen. He reminded them of the connection between Israel and the liberal West: "The final point of liberal civilization is the false and corrupt state that has occupied Jerusalem. That is the bottom line. That…
THE CLEANFLICKS business model was relatively straightforward. When it launched in June 2000, the Utah-based movie-rental company would buy a popular film on DVD (or VHS tape, in the early days) and make a digital copy of it on a computer. They would then use video editing software to remove or…
FOR YEARS I have watched the Palestinians do absurdly self-destructive things, and have never understood them until now. But watching the Bush administration stoutly defend Israel this week against the background of an American Jewish population that vocally (often sneeringly) dislikes him and his…
Miami Vice
Pittsburgh
Wordplay
ONE OF THE MANY FRONTS of the war on the Bush administration is the war on John Bolton. The New York Times's latest contribution to this assault is Warren Hoge's July 23 page-one story "Praise at home for envoy, but scorn at UN."
NOW THAT THE SUPREME COURT has ruled against the White House on the military detention of U.S. citizens and the presidential institution of military commissions, the next big legal issue seems to be the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance of international communications. Sen. Arlen…
(From the Herald Sun: "The images...show Hezbollah using high-density residential areas as launch pads for rockets and heavy-calibre weapons. Dressed in civilian clothing so they can quickly disappear, the militants carrying automatic assault rifles and ride in on trucks mounted with cannon….…
From a piece in the "Week in Review" section of today's New York Times: Many experts and members of both parties say they worry about the long-term consequences of such bitter partisan polarization and its effect on the longstanding tradition - although one often honored in the breach - that…
Yesterday's performance by Sen. John Kerry at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's hearing for John Bolton was a classic. Aside from lecturing Bolton on the virtue of the 1994 Framework Agreement with North Korea - an agreement he evidently didn't know required Pyongyang to forgo all nuclear…
Alan Dershowitz writes in today's Washington Times: On the basis of his performance, I have become a Bolton supporter. He speaks with moral clarity. He is extremely well prepared. He is extraordinarily articulate. He places the best face on American policy, particularly in the Middle East during…
Today's Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece, "Split Among Arab-Americans Curbs Political Clout." It notes.: Many Lebanese exiles and their families complain that Arab-American advocacy groups focus disproportionately on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to the exclusion of all other…
RECENT EVENTS in Afghanistan, notably the temporary seizure of the Afghan towns of Garmser and Naway-i-Barakzayi, have once again provoked a wave of speculation concerning a renewed Taliban offensive. The ability of the Taliban and their allies in al Qaeda and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-e-Islami to…
THE LATEST ZAWAHIRI TAPE, his tenth in the last year, will leave some al Qaeda watchers perplexed. In it, Zawahiri refers to his "brothers" in Lebanon and Gaza and links their war with Israel to al Qaeda's jihad against the West. "The shells and rockets ripping apart Muslim bodies in Gaza and…
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, is a fan of John Bolton. He told the Washington Post that Bolton's arrival at the UN has been a breath of fresh air at Turtle Bay precisely because he's not your typical diplomat. I'm certainly not going to tell the Senate or House of Representatives…
I wonder if the Speaker will invite President Bush or Rudy Giuliani to testify at these (scroll up) field "hearings"? Both oppose the House-passed immigration bill and support comprehensive reform.
Two editorials worth reading this morning: From the Wall Street Journal: Security in the Iraqi capital has been deteriorating, and especially worrisome is the increasing number of killings by sectarian militias. Many Baghdadis are afraid to leave their neighborhood and sometimes even their homes on…
In 2002, Rep. Cynthia McKinney looked untouchable; the Georgia Democrat had held her seat in Congress for a decade and her majority-minority district had shown no desire to kick the liberal, female, African-American out of office. While she was long known for being outspoken (McKinney accused Al…
EUROPEANS HAVE BECOME RECEPTIVE to the argument that Israel participates in the global war on terror when it confronts Hezbollah. But the broadening of the context for conflict also means dragging in other issues and constituencies.
LAST SUMMER, in the case of Kelo v. New London, a bitterly divided U.S. Supreme Court upheld (and slightly expanded) the constitutionality of local governments' seizing private property for economic development via the "takings power" of eminent domain. But in his majority opinion, Justice John…
Today the AP reports: Putting more U.S. soldiers in the streets of Baghdad risks a new showdown with a radical anti-American cleric who has modeled his movement after Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas. Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army has re-emerged as a key force in the majority Shiite community after…
Given her recent remarks, Madeleine Albright should take some time to read Max Boot in today's Los Angeles Times. He writes: Well, then, why on earth are so many pundits blaming President Bush for the current mess in the Middle East? A typical example comes from fellow Los Angeles Times columnist…
Slate's Christopher Hitchens has some interesting material on the Iraqi-Niger yellowcake story.
For those who are shocked by the crack-up of the Episcopal Church, let me explain: The answer was on a T-shirt I saw last month while traveling to the Presbyterian Church USA General Assembly in Birmingham and the Episcopal Church General Convention in Columbus. It read, "I'm Making It Up As I Go."…
(The Manhattan Institute's Tamar Jacoby seconds, in the Washington Post, an argument Rudy Giuliani has been making to audiences. She writes: "The point is obvious enough: We need to take the busboys out of the equation (by means of a temporary worker program) so that Border Patrol can focus on the…
This guy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, was supposed to be dead according to media reports last November. Guess not. In his interview published on the Time magazine website, al-Douri claims that he and other Saddam loyalists are behind much of the insurgency. One of Saddam's top henchmen, al-Douri was a…
Damascus
In Michigan, Senator John Kerry, commenting on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, said: "If I was president, this wouldn't have happened." I doubt a President Kerry would have done much to disarm Hezbollah, but, in any event, we do have a strong indication of how a President Kerry would have handled…
SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON of Texas and Representative Mike Pence of Indiana introduced a compromise immigration bill on Tuesday that amounts to the last serious opportunity for broad--or "comprehensive"--immigration reform this year. The measure is a long shot, but it has the tacit support of…
ONE OF THE ANOMALIES I have mentioned several times is the gap between the American economy's performance, and the public's perception of the quality of President Bush's economic management. The first thing to keep in mind is that the U..S economy is a huge, sprawling, diversified beast, driven in…
THE NAME Imad Fayez Mugniyeh is probably not familiar to most Americans, but it is never been far from the minds of most international security experts. As the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel continues, analysts and observers would do well to remember Mughniyeh, who may have been the…
Passed in 2004, UN Security Council Resolution 1559 demanded the "disbanding and disarmament" of Hezbollah in Lebanon. Instead, the group increased its firepower with weapons supplied by Syria and Iran. Now, some UN officials are busy denouncing Israel for taking action against a terror state…
SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE, having begun her tour of the Middle East crisis zones, may face a dangerous trap set by a familiar "friend"--the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Though little reported in the Western media, Thailand has been facing an insurgency of its own. From the BBC: A teacher has been shot and killed in front of a classroom of children in southern Thailand, according to police. Gunmen disguised themselves as students to shoot the Buddhist teacher at…
Damascus
Digging to America
AS ISRAELI WARPLANES pounded Lebanon last week, European leaders called for diplomacy. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan dispatched a three-member team to the region to urge all parties to exercise restraint. Even President George W. Bush said, "To help calm the situation, we've got diplomats in…
Ramadi
Beirut
PRESIDENT BUSH, en route to last weekend's G8 summit in Russia, paused for a day in what used to be Communist East Germany, where he learned from German chancellor Angela Merkel the proper way to carve a roasted boar.
A car dealer in Washington, Don Beyer Volvo, is offering a new promotion. If you buy one of their cars, the dealership will give you free tickets to Al Gore's global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Mr. Beyer is a Democrat in good standing, having been lieutenant governor of Virginia and…
ON JUNE 6, when the highest state court in New York dealt a setback to same-sex marriage, editorialists de nounced it as being "on the wrong side of history." These editorials protest too much: Their invocation of historical inevi tability suggests that this very factor is no longer to be counted…
Podgorica, Montenegro
WHY IS THIS ARAB-ISRAELI WAR different from all other Arab-Israeli wars? Because it's not an Arab-Israeli war. Most of Israel's traditional Arab enemies have checked out of the current conflict. The governments of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia are, to say the least, indifferent to the fate…
Joe Wilson's Latest 15 Minutes
ALTHOUGH U.S. POLICY toward North Korea is ostensibly about "keeping the most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous regimes," the reality is that we haven't even come close to doing that. North Korea almost certainly has nuclear weapons, and it is slowly developing the missiles…
Howling Near Heaven
NAY TO NATO
It's become accepted wisdom that the Era of the Blockbuster, which began with the release of Jaws in the summer of 1975 and has continued unabated to this day, has been a disaster for the mainstream American cinema. The possibility of producing monster hits that will, in turn, spawn monster sequels…
Shooting Star
This week, the Senate will take up legislation already passed by the House (H.R. 810) to authorize federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells harvested by de stroying human embryos left over in fertility clinics. Since August 2001, under a policy established by President Bush, federally…
The Brothers Bulger
Iran thumbs its nose at Western diplomats and continues nuclear enrichment. Hamas's chief, speaking from Damascus, boasts about kidnapping an Israeli soldier. Hezbollah launches a cross-border raid, prompting Israeli retaliation in Beirut and a return volley of rockets on northern Israel. Just…
A History of the World in Six Glasses
WHEN THE BOMBS began to fall in the Middle East, the Daily Kos had a problem. And the Daily Kos's problem could soon be the Democratic party's problem.
FIRST CAME THE INFORMALITIES: After spending some 30 minutes alone with Germany's new chancellor Angela Merkel last January, President Bush announced to a delegation that from now on, "I'm George and she's Angela." Then came more hugs and kisses in Washington this past May and, two weeks ago, in…
Here and here are two takes worth reading on the military difficulties facing Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has had six years to prepare for the Israelis, and thanks to its state sponsors, Iran and Syria, the group's weapons have turned out to be more advanced than Israeli and U.S.…
Once again, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has become an issue in a presidential campaign. This time in Nicaragua, where Chavez has been showering gifts upon Sandinista party leader Daniel Ortega. Today's Washington Post reports: Ortega, 60, whose armed revolution made him the Reagan administration's…
(No surprise here.) Posted on July 20, 2006: Some EU officials are pushing for an immediate cease-fire on the grounds that continued fighting will weaken the democrats inside Lebanon's government. But the more likely outcome from a premature cease-fire would be an emboldened Hezbollah with…
ABC's This Week, March 16, 2003: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: George, you're convinced this war is going to save lives. GEORGE WILL: George, opposition to the war against Iraq rests on and sometimes does not rise above a truism, the fact that war costs lives. Opponents say if we leave Saddam in power but…
A few weeks back, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen chastised Sen. McCain for his support of the president on Iraq. Cohen noted that he, too, once supported the war, but his reason for doing so vanished once the claim of weapons of mass destruction turned out to be "bogus." The problem is…
From AFP: An Indonesian journalist detained for posting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in his newspaper earlier this year has been released from prison but will still face trial. Teguh Santosa, 35, was freed from a Jakarta prison Thursday night after being held there for 24 hours by the…
LET'S BE HONEST HERE: The life of a summer intern is not all that glamorous. Sure, it's a lot better than working the pool refreshment stand at your neighborhood golf club, and its light years ahead of taking summer school classes while reshelving books at the library. But in regular practice,…
The man is bantam thin, and he enters the store carrying a metal bucket. The expression on his face is a mix of naiveté and determination. He is wearing a flat porkpie hat which, in a few years, will become famous. He fiddles with several brooms, flips a coin several times, then tastes a drop of…
IN ANNOUNCING The War Tapes winner of the "best documentary feature" at the Tribeca film festival in New York in May, judge and documentary filmmaker Ken Burns labeled the film a "remarkably clear-eyed view of what's going on there." I've been over there doing my own war taping and he's right. The…
From the senator's office: U.S. Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell made the following statement Thursday regarding U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's comments about Israel's response to terrorist attacks: "Kofi Annan is wrong. He ought to read Resolution 1559 which not only called for the…
Expect the Iranian regime to have lots and lots of questions and concerns for the international community on August 22, 2006 - see here.
Some EU officials are pushing for an immediate cease-fire on the grounds that continued fighting will weaken the democrats inside Lebanon's government. But the more likely outcome from a premature cease-fire would be an emboldened Hezbollah with democrats under siege. And you can bet on Damascus…
"CAN YOU HEAR THE SILENCE?" Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the left-wing Episcopal Divinity School in Boston, asked. "You and I can speak for them in silence. We must let our country's leaders know this war must end and never be repeated."
A LOT HAS BEEN written in recent years about stateless terrorism. The events of the last few weeks show, to the contrary, that some of the world's most malignant terrorist groups continue to rely on state support. Hamas runs its own quasi-state--the Palestinian Authority. Hezbollah is a…
THE ACCELERATING RIFT over homosexuality in the nearly 80 million member global Anglican Communion has finally reached directly into the Washington, D.C. area.
Things are apparently better in Dili -- for now at least. While places like East Timor and Kosovo are out of the headlines nowadays, they are still areas where the international community must remain engaged for the long haul.
The FARC must be feeling the heat especially after the landslide reelection of President Uribe. From the EFE News Service: The FARC guerrillas on Wednesday sent a letter to the president of the European Union, Matti Vanhanen, asking the EU to take the group off its list of "terrorist"…
(From Jane's Defense Weekly: Israel's INS Hanit, a Eilat (Sa'ar 5)-class missile corvette, was struck on 14 July by an Iranian-made C-802 Noor (Tondar) radar-guided anti-ship missile, fired by Hizbullah from Beirut. "We were not aware that Hizbullah possessed this kind of missile," said Rear…
After reading yesterday's Washington Post column by George Will decrying the Weekly Standard, a Standard fan dug into the archives and sent along this piece (yes, it's a parody) Will penned in early 1942: FDR and his Critics The Roosevelt administration, justly criticized for its military premises…
Damascus
From the BBC: Argentines have been marking the anniversary of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires that left 85 people dead and about 300 injured…. A prosecutor last year blamed Hezbollah for the blast, which the group denied…. The blast on 18 July 1994 reduced the seven-storey…
ONE OF THE MORE SURPRISING ASPECTS of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has been the fact that, to date, neither side has been willing to deploy all of the assets at their disposal to destroy the enemy. While this is easy enough to understand in regard to Israel, given that the Jewish state…
Beirut
If the world flinches and the Iranian regime is allowed to move forward with its nuclear weapons plans, does anyone honestly believe the Israelis won't act at some point to stop or degrade Tehran's ability to produce a bomb - even if it takes weeks to do it? I doubt they want to go down this road…
Evidently, the one person at the G-8 summit who has irked the Kremlin the most isn't even an elected official. From the Telegraph: Cherie Blair goaded the Kremlin yesterday when she volunteered legal assistance to Russian campaigners seeking to challenge a law that imposes strict controls on…
AS ISRAEL CONTINUES to come to grips with Hezbollah's missile strike on the northern Israeli city of Haifa, it is important to fully appreciate the implications of this attack. While Hezbollah, like other terrorist and guerrilla organizations worldwide, has long been known to possess a number of…
ECONOMICS DRIVES THE LAW. Globalization is about more than cheap sneakers and Indian call centers. It is about pressures forcing the legal systems of every nation to take account, somehow, of what is going on in the rest of the world.
I WAS RECENTLY ASKED about President Bush's chances of a political resurgence. Might Mr. Bush be able to recover as strongly as President Reagan did from a slump in his second term in the 1980s? My response was, Reagan recovery? What Reagan recovery? Though he continued his ultimately successful…
The Democratic Leadership Council's Marshall Wittmann has a few things to say about Israel's right to self-defense and a lot more to say about Israel's critics - see here.
Today's Washington Post has a piece on wealthy donors who fund liberal organizations. An alliance of nearly a hundred of the nation's wealthiest donors is roiling Democratic political circles, directing more than $50 million in the past nine months to liberal think tanks and advocacy groups in what…
Beirut
Over at The New Republic, the author of Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East offers his thoughts on what to do about Assad's continued provocations.
IN A recent New York Times story assessing the recent spike in terrorist-related incidents including the death of Chechen terrorist leader Shamil Basayev, the commuter train bombings in Mumbai, and recent attacks on Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah, argued that "The far-flung extremists share an…
Diplomatic Failure 101
"DISGRACEFUL" is what President Bush called the New York Times for compromising the sources and methods by which the United States has been tracking al Qaeda finances. The House of Representatives followed suit, condemning disclosures like those made by our leading newspaper for impairing "the…
TO FULLY APPRECIATE the wrong headedness of a federal district court's recent decision expelling a faith-based program from an Iowa prison, it is necessary first to take a backward glance at the history of religious involvement in corrections in the United States.
WHEN RIOTING suddenly broke out in Kabul in May, sparked by a fatal traffic accident involving the U.S. military, most in the city were taken by surprise. Less shocking, alas, was the response of the Afghan National Police, or ANP, to the unrest. Rather than dispersing the mobs and restoring order,…
Considering Genius
The Devil Wears Prada is beyond criticism. If you don't love every single minute of it, there's probably something wrong with you. There hasn't been a movie like this one in decades, a glossy spectacle about an eager young thing who comes to New York to make it in the Big City and emerges after a…
Modigliani
DEFYING AMERICAN, Japanese, and even Chinese warnings, North Korea test fired at least seven missiles on July 4 and 5. One of these, the Taepodong 2, is capable of hitting the United States. Though the Taepodong test failed, North Korea's behavior is a clear provocation and threat to American…
"There's a choice for [Kim Jong Il] to make. He can verifiably get rid of his weapons programs and stop testing rockets, and there's a way forward for him to help his people. I believe it's best to make that choice clear to him with more than one voice, and that's why we have the six-party talks.…
Norwalk, Conn.
During a junior tournament at the Los Angeles Tennis Club, Don Budge, then the best young player in northern California, won a match impressively. Expecting a compliment from Perry Jones, czar of West Coast tennis, he instead received a snarl: "Budge, those are the dirtiest tennis shoes I ever saw…
IT IS NOT WISE to place yourself between a Stinger missile and its target. So, normally, I wouldn't dare stand in the way when the great Mark Steyn goes on the attack. But, like a lot of conservatives, he was so irritated by the Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that he fired a bit…
PRIMARY BATTLES
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Standing by the baggage carousel at Dulles airport the other week, I started to get that sinking feeling. Only a few pieces of luggage remained unclaimed. The passengers I recognized from my flight had disappeared. New people stood next to me, but eventually they, too, left. Then the carousel…
THERE'S JOY at the White House again and less anxiety among Republicans in Congress. The excesses of the press and Supreme Court are bringing Bush and rebellious conservatives closer together. Iraq is better off. The American economy is humming. The White House has made no harmful missteps. And the…
LET'S GIVE TWO CHEERS for Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. They have given new meaning to the word philanthropy, and not only by virtue of the magnitude of the funds they are jointly deploying. Not that somewhere between $60 billion and $70 billion is chicken feed. The lifetime donations of…
At the time he left office in January 1953, so toxic that most of his party had shunned him, no one could imagine that Harry S. Truman, common-man heir to a great wartime president, would one day be claimed by both major parties, each of them longing to be just like him. For years, Republicans…
REVELATIONS OF the Bush administration's banking surveillance program--the Swift program--are important in at least one respect. They are meant to amplify one of the media's favorite subjects: President Bush's secrecy. Because the Swift operation has been conducted covertly and relies on broad…
The G-8 meeting is supposed to send a clear signal to Tehran: stop enriching uranium or else - the else being UN-imposed sanctions. Unfortunately, the one message -- aside from the meeting's muddled response to Iran's proxy war against Israel -- the Iranian regime has apparently taken from the…
From today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch: U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., gave strong support on Saturday to Israel's reaction to the capture of two of its soldiers, despite international criticism that the country's offensive against Islamic militants in Lebanon has been too harsh. At a political…
What's clear is that Israeli intelligence underestimated the range of Hezbollah's rockets. Satellite Israel.gif (Number of the sites in the north of Israel struck by Katyusha rockets so far today - courtesy of the Jerusalem Post) Tiberias, for example, is 35 kilometers from the Lebanese border and…
(With the ambassador back in the news, this is a good time to review some material that much of the media neglects to mention in its coverage of him.) Posted on April 9, 2006: You've got to hand it to Joe Wilson. He has certainly cashed in on his celebrity as he tours college campuses making…
The latest poll is gloomy news for Republicans but there's one interesting number the GOP should pay attention to. One bright spot for the GOP is that Republicans hold an advantage over Democrats on issues such as foreign policy and fighting terrorism _ 43 percent to 33 percent _ and a smaller edge…
The Times in Britain reports that anti-American Member of Parliament George Galloway will join hands with a radical Islamist cleric and accused war criminal: A HARDLINE Islamist cleric who government advisers wanted banned from Britain is scheduled to fly to London this weekend to attend events…
The Washington Post's David Ignatius informs us today that the U.S. and Israel have a "public opinion" problem. We're further told that America needs to be an "honest broker" between Israel, a democracy, and the tyrant states and terrorist groups that surround it. But, as Charles Krauthammer writes…
Shamil Basayev is not well know in this country, although the extent of his crimes has made him as despised and hated in Russia as Osama bin Laden is here in America. Ever since his 1991 debut--the hijacking of a passenger plane from Mineralnye Vody to Turkey and then on to the Chechen capital of…
HAS THE MPAA begun rating films based on religious content?
WHILE THE REPERCUSSIONS of Hezbollah's attack on northern Israel, which left eight IDF soldiers dead and two more taken prisoner, continue to mount, the Lebanese terrorist organization seems determined to maintain its reputation as the world's second most dangerous terrorist group. But as Israel…
From AFP: The United States has reason to feel "strategically optimistic" about the future of Iraq, Washington's envoy to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, said, despite rampant sectarian bloodshed. "Americans should be strategically optimistic about Iraq, even as the continuing difficulties in Iraq will…
This quote from the Russian foreign minister is rich. The Kremlin took a flamethrower to Groznyy and made much of it a wasteland by conducting an air and artillery bombardment with no concern for civilian casualties. Israel's actions are the exact opposite of how the Russians operate. From Reuters:…
Former ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg made three points this morning in a Fox News interview: 1) Hezbollah wouldn't conduct cross-border raids into Israel without the green light from Iran; 2) the failure of the US and other nations to keep heavy pressure on Damascus following the Cedar…
ON JUNE 25, Hamas terrorists tunneled into Israel and kidnapped 19-year-old Gilad Shalit, who was manning a border post. While executed from Gaza, the operation was planned in Damascus. In response to the Syrian connection, Israeli warplane buzzed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's summer palace.
IT LACKED THE SCALE and profile of Tiananmen Square, but was no less brutal. In the early morning hours of July 13, 1994, Cuban fireboats rammed and attacked a rickety tugboat ferrying more than 70 would-be defectors away from the Port of Havana. Using water cannons, Fidel Castro's ships quickly…
ACROSS THE GLOBE, fertility rates are falling. Most industrialized countries are already below the replacement rate of 2.1 children born to the average woman; many more will fall below that crucial mark in the next 25 years. By 2080, world population will probably have peaked around nine billion,…
Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa predictably blames Israel for the current fighting, the Associated Press reports, and denies any Syrian role in the Israeli soldiers' abductions. But what is noteworthy is that he chose to deliver his regime's message during a press conference held in Damascus…
Today in Baghdad, where security has not improved post-Zarqawi, Gen. Casey indicated that a change in strategy might be on the horizon. He made his comments during a press conference he and Secretary Rumsfeld held following their meeting. From the AP: Casey said he was consulting with the Iraqi…
This time things would be different. North Korea had badly miscalculated in firing its missiles, as some claimed in the immediate aftermath of the launch. Kim Jong Il's belligerence would be met by a tough, united international response. But has it miscalculated? The one nation with enormous…
THE RECENT SUMMIT of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization--a group consisting of China, Russia, and four Central Asian countries--has evoked alarm about a potent anti-American bloc emerging in the heart of Eurasia. The presence in Shanghai of fiery Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the…
From the AP: The Navy will christen its new 684-foot warship the Green Bay on Saturday at a shipyard near New Orleans…. This ship, designed to carry troops for rapid deployment, launch and recovery, will be a major part of the U.S. amphibious fleet and carry 360 Navy sailors along with up to 800…
Surely this bit of news from Reuters will prompt the Russians and Chinese to get serious about Iran's nuclear enrichment program: Iran's chief nuclear negotiator rebuffed Western pressure for an immediate answer to an offer of incentives to suspend uranium enrichment ahead of crucial talks with the…
From AFP: China has repeated its rejection of a proposed UN resolution on possible sanctions against North Korea, dashing US and Japanese hopes for quick action over Pyongyang's missile tests. A foreign ministry announcement that the draft Security Council resolution was an "overreaction" came amid…
Jerusalem
GARY MULGREW, David Bermingham, Giles Darby, Ken Lay, Eliot Spitzer, Hank Greenberg--the list goes on. The first three, now known as "the Natwest Three," are awaiting extradition from Britain to the United States to face charges in connection with the collapse of Enron. Lay, of course, is--was--the…
Considering the cover of this week's Time magazine, President Bush is in good company on the "cowboy" front. The media and the Democrats used all sorts of "cowboy" combinations to lampoon President Reagan and the conduct of his foreign policy -- from nuclear arms control and S.D.I. to Central…
The Republican governor of Arkansas and possible presidential candidate must be getting his foreign policy talking points from fellow Arkansan Bill Clinton. From the Des Moines Register: Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Iowa Saturday downplayed the threat North Korea's missile testing last week posed…
This is from the same guy who embraced the phrase "centrist Democrat" when he was running for the North Carolina senate seat. I also don't recall John Edwards scalding reporters for referring to him as a "centrist" when he was running for president in 2004. For that matter, his aides pushed…
((From AP: "Iran has asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to remove the head of the inspection team probing Tehran's nuclear program….The inspector, Chris Charlier, has not been back to Iran since April because of Iranian displeasure with his work….However, Charlier remains the head of…
No help on Iran. No help on North Korea. No help on Darfur and Sudan. Somehow this story from today's Washington Post doesn't surprise me: BEIJING, July 7 -- The Chinese government is preparing to prosecute a blind peasant who exposed excesses by authorities in enforcing the one-child policy in…
Syrian dissident Ammar Abdulhamid offers some insights on the Damascus regime in Beirut's Daily Star. [A]after a period of lying low, the Assads are re-emerging as one of the Middle East's chief backers of radical groups - Islamist or ultra-nationalist. The recent showdown with Israel over the fate…
From yesterday's Jerusalem Post editorial: When President George W. Bush first stated in 2002 that Iran and North Korea were joined in an "axis of evil," there was much snickering, not only at the use of moralistic language, but at the implication that such disparate countries were in any way…
Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, who did a good job while in office, had a lot to say Wednesday night on Hardball. He's opposed to the president's immigration position, which he has every right to do. But in explaining why, the Virginia Republican totally mischaracterized what's in the…
This piece in the Washington Post is encouraging assuming more Iraqi units act as well in the field. This unit held together, engaged Sadr's Shiite militia and apparently routed them. But what the Post doesn't report and would be interesting to know is whether the unit is comprised mostly of…
There's a scene early in The Godfather when Don Corleone meets with popular singer Johnny Fontaine. The young man is in something of a bind--he desperately needs to land a part in a movie to further his career, but a stubborn producer refuses to give him the role. Overcome with frustration,…
THE POLARIZING CONCEIT of Marie Antoinette, legacy celebrity Sofia Coppola's latest feature film, is that the French royal scene at its height and last gasp is best understood as teen drama. "It is about teenagers in Versailles, so I wanted it to have a teenage feeling," Coppola has mused. "The…
From Marine Corps News -- here and here.
When the North Korean dictator says jump (this time in the form of lobbing missiles) many Clintonites ask, "how high?" Bill Richardson, Madeleine Albright, Wendy Sherman, etc. have been all over the media pushing for direct talks with Pyongyang. They believe the U.S. can strike a deal with the…
Iran is taking its sweet time responding to the UN Security Council on its offer of aid in exchange for the regime's suspension of uranium enrichment. Its latest excuse for not getting back with an answer is fear of hit squads. From AFP: Iran postponed key talks in Brussels between its chief…
SOON the Supreme Court may be forced to consider a thorny question it has hidden from for too long: Does the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment protect shellfish?
From Reuters: A French terrorism trial was thrown into turmoil on Wednesday by a report French agents secretly interviewed the six accused during their detention at a U.S. military camp on Cuba's Guantanamo Bay. The Liberation daily published a French diplomatic telegram referring to intelligence…
Call me a skeptic of the comments made by some U.S. government officials and pundits that North Korea badly miscalculated in firing its missiles. The U.N. Security Council isn't likely to do much beyond condemning the "provocation" and pleading with the North to return to the six-party talks. If…
After capturing Kabul in 1996, it wasn't long before the Taliban imposed a harsh brand of Islam. The capitol's soccer stadium became a killing field where pre-game festivities included executions and the chopping off of limbs. Today, in southern Somalia, a new Taliban may be emerging. From the BBC:…
After its general convention in Columbus, Ohio, which took place from June 13 to 21, the Episcopal Church is facing trouble ahead--and perhaps schism. By electing Katharine Jefferts Schori as its first female presiding bishop, and by failing to comply with the recommendations of a committee formed…
ON JULY 4, 1918, Winston Churchill chaired a meeting of the Anglo-Saxon Fellowship, an annual gathering to mark the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. That year, though, they had a more pressing reason to celebrate: the arrival of a million American soldiers in Europe to revive the…
THIS IS A SPECIAL WEEKEND IN AMERICA. Because the Fourth of July holiday falls on Tuesday, most Americans stayed away from work yesterday, and treated themselves to a four-day weekend. That has given us time to fire up the barbecues, catch some of Wimbledon (starts at 7:00 a.m. in most U.S. time…
On July 4,1845, Henry David Thoreau built a cabin at Walden woods in Concord and challenged what he called the "restless, nervous, bustling, trivial 19th century." His full message delivered in Walden is as refreshing and revolutionary as when it was first published. Sadly, Walden is more often…
If Sen. Lieberman goes down in his August primary, Republicans should be ready to wrap his loss around the neck of the national Democratic Party. Lieberman is well liked and respected by people outside of the leftwing fever swamps. He polls well among Republicans and most importantly with…
This past February a remarkable and peaceful demonstration took place in Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands of mainly Sunnis marked the first anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Some carried signs, the AP reported, "calling for ‘The Truth'…. Others carried…
On ABC's This Week on Sunday, Sen. McCain criticized the New York Times for publishing the details of the highly classified program that tracks terrorist money flows. I don't think they should have. I think there are laws that were passed that allow programs such as this. I think it's a very…
MISSOURIANS WILL VOTE THIS NOVEMBER on an amendment to their state constitution that claims to ban human cloning. In a red state known for its pro-life movement, that would seem to be good news for those who believe that human embryos should not be created and destroyed for scientific research.
Behind the Screen
The Dead Fish Museum Stories
To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever
IN JUNE 2001, as he flew to his first visit with George W. Bush, newly elected Japanese premier Junichiro Koizumi called himself "a diehard pro-American from long before." It was "fate," he told reporters, that his maiden foreign trip as prime minister was to the United States. He soon built a…
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HOMELESS? "We haven't heard much--anything, really--about the homeless since, oh, roughly January 20, 1993," Andrew Ferguson noted in January 2001, predicting that with Bush replacing Clinton, the media would soon rediscover them. As if on cue, days later the Washington…
WHEN POLITICAL HANDICAPPERS START LAYING ODDS on a presidential election, the conversation inevitably turns to Iowa and New Hampshire. Their status as the first caucus and primary states remains critical, but as media scrutiny has amplified their importance, both have morphed into a kind of…
Most Pathetic Hunger Strike Ever
BEFORE COMING TO THE WEEKLY STANDARD, I was a newspaper columnist. And in the course of the many years that I practiced that dubious craft, the question I was asked most frequently was, "How do you come up with ideas?"
CAN JOURNALISTS REALLY BE PROSECUTED for publishing national security secrets? In the wake of a series of New York Times stories revealing highly sensitive counterterrorism programs, that question is increasingly the talk of newsrooms across the country, and especially one newsroom located on West…
The Party of Death
A Loeb Classical Library Reader
Nicotine Kiss
BY NOW IT'S UNDENIABLE: The New York Times is a national security threat. So drunk is it on its own power and so antagonistic to the Bush administration that it will expose every classified antiterror program it finds out about, no matter how legal the program, how carefully crafted to safeguard…
The Audubon Reader
Brothers in Arms
Kabul
THE MEDIA COVERAGE of the killing of 24 Iraqis at Haditha has given rich new definition to the phrase "rush to judgment." The coverage, plus the reaction of antiwar politicians like Democratic representative John Murtha, amounts to a public verdict of guilty, rendered against a handful of Marines,…
Revolutionary Characters
MAY WE RECOMMEND . . .
ON JUNE 5th, Islamist fighters loyal to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) seized the Somali capital of Mogadishu. The ICU's sudden consolidation of power has increased concerns that the anarchic African nation may serve as a terrorist haven similar to that of Afghanistan under the Taliban. But while a…