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Who's serious about reducing the deficit?
Cut Medicare payments and tweak Social Security. Cut defense spending by directly reducing spending and getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Raise income, corporate, and payroll taxes. These issues...
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Chilcot redux
The UK’s Inquiry into the Iraq war and the UK’s role in it kicks off again this week. Technically known as TheThe Iraq Inquiry but more conventionally known as the Chilcot inquiry (since it is being...
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Why Obama went after Osama, really
Like most people, I’m mostly glad that Osama is dead. He directly caused the deaths of thousands of people, and indirectly led to the deaths, displacement and exile of millions more. Would Sparky have...
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Israel's 1981 Osirak attack poor precedent for attacking Iran
Ineffective in halting Iraq's nuclear-weapons program, Israel's attack on the Osirak nuclear reactor can't be used as a precedent for a military strike to halt Iran's nuclear-enrichment program.
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Would America have been better off with President McCain?
by Guy Saperstein As we think ahead toward 2012, ponder this: Consider the possibility that we would be better off if John McCain had won in 2008. Heresy? Yes, but think about a few important points....
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The lesson that bin Laden learned from Reagan
There is a particular narrative about Ronald Reagan and the end of the Cold War that has always struck me as compelling. I bought the argument at the time and I think I still do, to some extent, even...
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Nota Bene #121: Birds of an Ancient Feather
“Television is an invention whereby you can be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn’t have in your house.” Who said it? The answer is at the end of this post. Now on to the links! …...
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Journalistic framing in the spotlight: The Atlantic covers UNESCO coverage by...
From Wednesday, March 21, 2012: ‘The Daily Show’s’ Advantage Over the MSM: An Eye for the Absurd Political satirists sometimes enjoy wider latitude than journalists. It’s a distinct and vital genre for...
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Memorial Day: our most troubled national holiday
Memorial Day has become our most conflicted holiday. I’m bothered by it, and I know I am not the only one. See, while our history books have canonized the justness of the wars fought in the past (some...
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Ten years ago this week the Dixie Chicks controversy erupted: I’m still not...
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American...
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Emphasis added: the foreign policy week in pieces
As if Iran Isn’t Noticing [Philip Coyle of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation] worries that the overall effect of the White House’s about-face on nuclear weapons policy could prove...
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Syria and chemical weapons attacks: “Just trust us,” says everybody.
Today, as covered by nearly everyone, Secretary of State John Kerry said: “The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a...
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The outstanding bill for Iraq
A couple of weeks ago Larison reminded us that the costs of Iraq are still with us. Citing a new report on a new study about Iraqi war deaths, Max Fisher of the Washington Post and Larison both come to...
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Al Qaeda seizure of Falluja throws U.S. attitudes toward Iraq into sharp relief
U.S. Marines react to loss of Falluja to al Qaeda affiliate ISIS. After the fall of Falluja to al Qaeda affiliate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, disappointment was expressed by many U.S. Marines...
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Maliki: one of the wrongest horses the U.S. ever backed
Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki may not be as bad as Saddam Hussein, but he’s only slightly less worse. In yet another definitive piece for the New Yorker titled What We Left Behind, Dexter...
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ISIS: common enemy of Iran and the United States
It’s ironic that Iraq’s last two enemies now stand ready to defend it against a third enemy, ISIS. The advance of ISIS into Baghdad is on hold at the moment in part due to resistance from the Iraqi...
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ISIS atrocities, real or imagined, only guarantee reprisal will be merciless
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria may be clever and rich but stoking the revenge machine reveals how impoverished its collective imagination is. Over the weekend the Sunni militants of Islamic State...
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A quick resolution to the ISIS offensive not likely
It could bog down like the Iran-Iraq War. Kenneth Pollack is infamous for his 2002 book The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq. That doesn’t mean he’s incapable of producing valuable work...
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Why ISIS shouldn’t be branded terrorists
Terrorism leads to panicked over-reaction. Yesterday I posted about Kenneth Pollack’s valuable Iraq Military Situation Report that appeared June 14 on the website of the Brookings Institution where...
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