Politico has the bad news: “Biden goes ‘full steam ahead’ on Trump’s nuclear expansion despite campaign rhetoric”. An article by Lara Seligman, Bryan Bender, and Connor O’Brien quotes Biden as telling the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in a speech given just before the close of the Obama administration in January 2017, the following: If…
Search Results for: iraq
Terror From The Skies! Well, sort of.
“Iran-backed militias turn to drone attacks, alarming U.S. forces in Iraq” bellows the headline in the Washington Post. Louisa Loveluck and John Hudson unload a pulse-pounding narrative that is heavy on atmosphere, speculation, and innuendo, but short on, you know, facts, not to mention casualties. Because all this shrieking about those devilish Iranian devils and…
I wonder if Daniel Drezner even knows what “pessimism” means
Well, I certainly do. I mean, I wonder about a lot of things, and one of the things I wonder about is Dan’s article in the WashPost from a month or two back, which he called “The most pessimistic article I have read in 2021”, a “depressing read” (says Dan) found in a recent issue…
Roy Jenkins was part of the solution, and part of the problem. Was that part of the problem?
Roy Jenkins had a fascinating life. Born in 1920 in Abersychan, a mining community in Wales, he came from a strongly “Labour” family—his father, Arthur Jenkins, was a leading official in the Union of Mineworkers, eventually becoming a member of Parliament. Jenkins himself was elected to Parliament at the age of 28, working his way…
You know what Dan Drezner’s problem is? He isn’t pessimistic enough.
Has it really been four months since I made fun of Dan Drezner? Well, it is, and, again, I’m saying that Dan just isn’t pessimistic enough. The last time around, in October of 2020, I snickered at Dan for snickering at Donald Trump’s “shambolic campaign” for reelection, Dan endorsing Ross Douthat’s picture of Trump as…
Matt Purple explains why you should only give one and a half cheers for Liz Cheney
Over at the American Conservative, Matt Purple has an article, Neither Madge Nor Liz If the GOP is to be saved, it must reject both the delusions of Q and those who have wrecked our public policy, which I thought I’d skip, since I’m generally not a fan of Matt’s rap, but, for whatever reason,…
Ramesh Ponnuru sincerely wishes that Donald Trump would stop farting so loudly. Particularly when he’s sitting on Mr. Ponnuru’s face
Well, he does. In a recent post, “Trump’s Record on Clemency”, written before the president’s most recent (to date) rogue’s gallery of releases, Mr. Ponnuru acknowledges that, well, the president can do anything he goddamn pleases when it comes to pardons, including pardoning a bunch of murders and corrupt political pals whenever the mood strikes…
Donald Trump tries to do something right. DC aghast.
Yes, you read that right: Donald Trump is trying to do something right. Not only is he trying to take a staggering 2,500 troops out of Iraq, he’s trying to take a staggering 2,500 troops out of Afghanistan as well! Effectively ending America’s only official shooting war! Almost as if we weren’t, you know, in…
Twilight of Democracy: Anne Applebaum’s front-row seat to disaster
I have already written with great approval of Anne Applebaum’s recent article for the Atlantic, History Will Judge the Complicit, while snickering at Ramesh Ponnuru’s anguished protest—for surely the dude protested too much—that he was totally not—repeat not—“complicit”. He’s just friends with people who, it so happens, are complicit”.1 Which is like a totally different…
Mike does Stuart: Michael Grunwald holds Stuart Stevens’ turncoat Republican feet to the fire, with interesting results
In a recent—well, “tirade” is probably too strong a word, but “riff” is a bit cute—in a recent post on “conscience Republican” Ross Douthat’s semi-snarky take on Republican with a different conscience Stuart Stevens’ mea culpa It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump, I noted that Stu, unintentionally, I’m sure,…