RSSArchive for August, 2005
A Plan B for Iraq?
Rumsfeld and Saddam in happier times: Washington
backed the Baathists to stem Iranian influence
It must be hard for anyone reading the daily media in the U.S. to comprehend the political catastrophe that has befallen the Bush administration’s Iraq plans. Most of the reporting occurs within the frame — or is it a vacuum? — of [...]
Impostor #1: Tikka Goes to India
Back in the heyday of the dearly departed Anglo-Japanese food culture magazine Eat, I wrote a regular monthly brief (among other things) identifying dishes that profess a false “nationality.” Herewith, the first entry, on Chicken Tikka Masala, Britain’s national dish:
Globalization has brought fried chicken, pizza and burgers to India, so it should come as no [...]
They Can’t Be Serious #2: Karen Hughes’s New Assignment
So seriously does the Bush administration take the task of winning over Muslim public opinion that it has dragged the president’s top media flak, Karen Hughes, out of retirement and named her Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy — a job that her predecessor, former high powered ad exec Charlotte Beers, can testify is [...]
Who Wants to Go to Chelsea?
Jose Mourinho said a funny thing last week. Asked to defend his 23 million pound acquisition of Michael Essien from Lyon, he said paying that kind of money was simply the new reality of the game. Unusually for a braggart as shameless as the self-styled “special one,” he neglected to mention his own part in [...]
War in Context
Five reasons why you should read (and donate to!) Paul Woodward’s site War in Context.
1. Not simply becaus he regularly points to my stuff and sends this web site loads of smart, critical and in some cases influential readers.
2. Not simply because he provides the best annotated clipping service of the mainstream media for [...]
Iraq: Be Careful of What You Wish For
Khalilzad gets his marching orders
1.
The Bush administration only has itself to blame for any sense of disappointment or setback that may follow the failure of Iraq’s parliament to approve a new constitution by the August 15 deadline. After all, it was the administration itself that created not only the deadline, and also worked hard to [...]
Chowhounding With Jim
Originally published three years ago in the sadly now-defunct Japanese food-culture magazine Eat
Like the celestial creatures for which it is named, Angel’s Share is invisible even to the patrons of the unremarkable East Village sushi bar in which it is hidden behind an unmarked wooden door at the top of the stairs. And that’s just [...]
Can Chelsea Be Beaten?
Well in, Stevie!
Yes, of course they can. We (Liverpool FC) proved that in one of the most important games of the season for both teams — forgive the crass associations, but it looked rather a lot like New Labor comes a cropper on the rock solid defense of Old Labor… And they way they struggled [...]
Getting Used to a Nuclear Iran
President Bush may reassure himself that “the world is coalescing around the notion that the Iranians should not have the means and the wherewithal to be able to develop a nuclear weapon,” but the more pertinent question is whether the world, or even any significant part of it agrees that military action might be a [...]
What McDonalds Can Learn from Ford and the Vatican
Why burn the stars and stripes these days when the more transcendent – and ubiquitous – symbols of all things American these days are the Nike swoosh or the golden arches of McDonalds? A dwindling coterie of Iranian firebrands may gather each year outside the old U.S. embassy in Tehran to dutifully torch Old Glory, [...]
The Latest
Shameless Cronyism
Sound Advice for the Next President
Read Helena Cobban's new book Engage!A Skeptical Read
Rosner, Haaretz's Itchy Beard
The right-wing nationalist blogger always seemed a little out of step with his paper's editorial line. Now, Carter's visit has provoked him to growl menacingly at the editorsA Wondering Jew
Healing Israel's Birth Scar
With the 60th anniversary of Israel's birth -- and of the Palestinian Nakbah (catastrophe) -- which are, of course the same event, almost upon us, I was reminded this week that April 9 was also the 60th anniversary of an event that has long epitomized the connection between the creation of an et...99c Blogging
All Hat, No Cattle #7682
President Bush loves playing the Bad Cop, but anyone vaguely familiar with the routine knows not to take the Bad Cop seriously.The 51st State
A Teachable Moment in Basra
It should come as no surprise that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's disastrous offensive against the Mahdi Army of Moqtada Sadr in Basra has had the exact opposite effect of that intended -- strengthening rather than weakening Sadr, and making clear that he, and the Iranians, have far greater in...Futures Market
Will Russia Partition Kosovo?
Why my tea-leaf reading suggests that Moscow has a nasty surprise in store for Washington in the BalkansGuest Columns
Iraq and U.S. Faith in Violence
Guest Column: Alastair Crooke warns of a dangerous fantasy that persists in Western capitals in which the West faces an "onslaught" from "radical Islam." The problem is that this intersects all too tragically with a the persistent belief in Washington and elsewhere that by applying its overwhel...Cuisine
Yummy yummy Umami
Why a leftover lamb bone turned a bean stew into an ecstatic eventGlancing Headers
Spare Us More 'Globalization & Football'
The claim that Egypt's Cup of Nations win "proves" that stronger domestic leagues make stronger international sides is not born out by football's bigger picture. In fact, the teams that do best internationally are those with weaker domestic leaguesHousekeeping
'Lost' Entries on Rootless Cosmopolitan
Previous entries that now register as "not available" are ones that got left behind in a server migration. We're working on retrieving themUnholy War
U.S. Pours Gasoline on Gaza Fires
Once upon a time, Israelis and Palestinians looked to the U.S. to intervene at moments of heightened confrontation to mediate between the two sides and contain the damage. The Bush Administration, however, has proved entirely incapable of playing this role, because its own interventions are hidebou...The Whole World's Africa
South Africa's Racist Present
Guest Column: Sean Jacobs. What to make of the racist torture incident at a South African campusFeatured Analysis
Obama and the 'Jewish Vote'
The problem with Obama, for the Zionist establishment, is that they can't be sure he hates the Palestinians enough. The deeper problem for the Zionist establishment, of course, is that Jewish Americans are flocking to Obama despite their coded warningsAnnals of Globalization
Honey, I Shrank the Superpower
In a snide reference to Bill Clinton's 1992 promise to "build a bridge into the 21st century," Barack Obama recently quipped that what Hillary Clinton really offers is a bridge back into the 20th century. Yet, a bridge back into the last century may be what all the major candidates are offering when...Could Die Laughing
Mearsheimer, Walt and the Erudite Hysteria of David RemnickNew York Moments
The Debka Made ‘Em Do ItFrom Tony's Archive
A Playground Lesson for BushRebellion Into Money
The Rebel Grace of Patti Smith
