Who could have seen this coming? The Washington Post has released, with great fanfare, “The Afghanistan Papers”, a massive study documenting what a massive disaster the War in Afghanistan has been. It’s too bad, however, that the Post has “forgotten” how earnestly it pushed that misbegotten war, as recently as August of this year, something…
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Shorter Dick: Do as I say, not as I did
Or, maybe, do as I did, not as I say. Or even, do as I say, not as Reagan did. You may have heard that our former veep, Ragin’ Dick Cheney, ripped our current veep, Mild Mike Pence, a new one over the Trump Administration’s less than rumbustious foreign policy. Money quote (or money shot)…
Can a half-assed, two-headed Democratic Party get its act together? A question to be asked
Yes, it is a little late in the game to be asking this question, or it would be if I had any expectation of being able to influence the answer. The day of the neolibs is done, but who and what will replace it? Hard to say. President Obama, by selecting Tim Geithner as Secretary…
The New York Times, furiously beating the drums of war
Did you see video of that big military parade in North Korea last week? Those huge missile carriers, designed to hold an ICBM capable of reaching the U.S.? Did it ever occur to you that those carriers might be empty, that the parade was a huge bluff, that the North Koreans have never tested an…
2017 – 2011 = 6
Back in January 2011, I unleashed a rude outburst directed at then SecDef Robert Gates, “Robert M. Gates, totally full of it. Totally”, prompted by Bob’s statement that, in five years’ time, North Korea would be able to “target” the U.S. with a nuclear-tipped ICBM. Well, it’s six years and counting, so how’s that “direct…
Bob Woodward a total tool, New York Times says. But not in so many words.
The New York Times has some sort of “feature” called “The Interpreter”, described as “a column by Max Fisher and Amanda Taub exploring the ideas and context behind major world events.” Today’s edition is dubbed “As Leaks Multiply, Fears of a ‘Deep State’ in America”: “A wave of leaks from government officials has hobbled the…
I spent $800 billion in Afghanistan and all they gave me was this lousy tee-shirt
As R. Jeffrey Smith, who hangs his hat at the Center for Public Integrity, so admirably demonstrates, every word of that headline is true, except the part about the tee-shirt. Jeff puts the blame on Hillary, but I’d give the lion’s share to President Obama, who rather gratuitously decided that Afghanistan was the “good war,”…
Orlando explained! Well, sort of.
Over at Bloomberg, Pankaj Mishra gives a nice take on “The Messy Mind of Omar Mateen”, noting that, among other things, “Mateen was mentally unstable, according to his divorced first wife. His Afghan-born father spoke of his son’s hatred of gays. Obama confirmed that the Islamic State had not directed the attack even though Mateen…
What Hath Trump Wrought?
Which is more decadent, Donald Trump or the Annual Gala of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York? Okay, trick question, because there is no wrong answer. But putting the Donald in perspective does take some work. Yet the sources of the Donald aren’t hard to find: the stumblings and…
The foreign policy debate: Wouldn’t it be nice if we had one?
I realize that the recent terrorist attack in San Bernardino may forbid rational discussion of any topic for the next six months, or even longer. Still, wouldn’t be nice to have foreign policy discussion that consisted of more than a choice between Tweedle-Dick and Tweedle-Hillary? I mean, I’m not asking for six degrees of separation,…