Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
I have been venting exasperation with President Obama’s Bush-Lite war on terrorism almost from day one of his presidency – as such commentaries as “Obama Saluting War Dead Will Be Defining Image of His Presidency,” October 30, 2009, and “Demystifying ISIS: Case against Obama’s Bush-Lite War on Terrorism,” September 10, 2014, attest. I have been particularly… Read more.
Deadly explosions rocked a Brussels airport and train station Tuesday morning, just days after the suspected mastermind of last year’s Paris terror attacks was captured. ‘Today is a black day for #Europe,’ German justice minister Heiko Mass said. ‘The horrible events in #Brussels affect us all.’ (Huffington World Post, March 22, 2016) Belgian prosecutors made a… Read more.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has abruptly declared that he is withdrawing the majority of Russian troops from Syria, saying the six-month military intervention had largely achieved its objective… Western diplomatic sources were both sceptical and startled by Putin’s unexpected and mercurial move… Putin and US President Barack Obama spoke on the phone on Monday,… Read more.
Nothing accounts for the dumbing down of public debate quite like hundreds of millions of people relying on social media for news and information. After all, even tweets and posts by erstwhile intelligent people often smack of snark – intended more to incite emotion than provoke debate. Only this explains Rupert Murdoch, publisher of the… Read more.
No doubt Russia needed to retaliate after ISIS blew up a Russian plane, killing 224. No doubt France needed to do the same after ISIS terrorized Paris, killing 129. The problem is that both Russia and France have retaliated in a manner that will do nothing to stop ISIS from launching similar attacks … or war-stricken… Read more.
Chances are very good that, like virtually everyone else, you found some way to express solidarity with and sympathy for the people of Paris after Islamic terrorists launched deadly attacks there on Friday, killing 129. But chances are equally good that, like virtually everyone else, you did not do the same for the people of… Read more.
President Obama is channeling President Nixon with his justification for deploying Special Forces to help combat ISIS. Of course, Nixon justified deploying the FBI and other intelligence agencies to illegally wiretap, entrap, and otherwise undermine anti-Vietnam protesters as follows: Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal. (“Nixon-Frost Interview,” New… Read more.
And Putin is trolling him with a coalition of his own … to do the same. American-trained Syrian fighters gave at least a quarter of their U.S.-provided equipment to al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria early this week, the U.S. Central Command said late Friday. In a statement correcting earlier assertions that reports of the turnover were… Read more.
Nothing has bedeviled U.S. nation-building efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq quite like the determination of Sunnis and Shiites to fight each other instead of Islamic jihadists. Now, Turks and Kurds are fighting each other instead of ISIS, thereby complicating ongoing efforts in Iraq and bedeviling efforts to prevent Syria from becoming the Somalia of the Middle… Read more.
Remarkably, U.S. politicians act as if Americans have a greater duty to govern, defend, and sustain Iraq than Iraqis themselves. Only this explains their reaction to thousands of Iraqi troops fleeing Ramadi to escape hundreds of ISIS fighters last week. For, instead of damning these Iraqi cowards, U.S. politicians blamed U.S. commanders for not being there, on the ground,… Read more.
