RSSArchive for March, 2007
Birthpangs of a Post-Bush Middle East
Not now, Condi, we’re busy
I’ve marveled for some time now at the abundance of unmistakable evidence to the contrary, so much of the mainstream media in the U.S. appears to feel dutybound to parrot Condi Rice’s giddy fantasies about processes underway in the Middle East, and her Administration’s central role in shaping them. For months [...]
West Africa/East Africa
Downtown in Arusha, Marcello’s new home
Cronies seem to be showing up all over the Mother Continent. It was when she went off to see the Teranga Lions thrash the hapless national team of Tanzania in an African Cup of Nations qualifier that I realized I had not done enough to plug Senegal Stories, [...]
Iran’s ‘Tonkin’ Moment in the Gulf?
Update:
I wrote the following in a piece earlier today on TIME.com:
But the outcome of the standoff may well depend on the strategic calculations of the Iranian leadership. Seizing the British troops a day before the U.N. Security Council voted on sanctions against Iran over the nuclear standoff was widely interpreted as Iran sending [...]
Safe Posturing on Iraq
Kudos to David Rieff for making clear that all the retrospective posturing on Iraq by the Democrat frontrunners is meaningless — safe, even — and is made nonsense of by the fact that all of them hold positions on Iran which would enable another disastrous war. To the extent that they [...]
What’s Iraq About Now?
Four years into the Iraq war — “hard to believe,” eh, Mr Wolfowitz? — don’t expect the U.S. media to dwell on the conceptual foundations of this catastrophe. That may be because the media was rather complicit in laying those foundations. But the more interesting question, today, I think, is where the Iraq [...]
More on Iran War Prospects
The Fatah-Hamas deal brokered by the Saudis
signaled the limits on U.S. influence in the region
In my latest on TIME.com , I argue that the Baghdad talks involving the U.S., Iran, Syria and other Iraq neighbors are a further negation of the idea that the Bush Administration is somehow rallying the regimes of the Middle [...]
The Rebel Grace of Patti Smith
This op-ed from Patti Smith, on the eve of her induction into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, brought tears to my eyes, for its humility and grace, and for the revolutionary fire that still burns so bright inside her. Extracts:
Today I will join R.E.M., the Ronettes, Van Halen and Grandmaster Flash and the [...]
Telephone Call for Mr. Horrible
Not just any American in Paris, but a vicious, potty-mouthed, epically angry American in Paris…
I’m please to share with you Mr. Horrible’s Ugliness Glob, the new blogging effort by my friend Bruce Crumley, who busts out of the constraints of his day job to rain invective and obscenity on what passes for politics back home…
Like [...]
The Latest
If I Was a Blogger...
... on Lebanon/Iran democracy claims
Elliot Abrams isn't telling you the whole truth about Lebanese democracyGuest Columns
The Pathologies of Israel's Guilty Conscience
Guest Column: Eitan Bronstein The proposal to legally bar the commemoration of the Nakba on Israel's Independence Day reflects growing trepidation in Israel about the inevitable encounter with the Palestinian Nakba and the understanding that the Nakba is a foundational part of Israeli identity....Glancing Headers
The Shebab, the Shahids and the Champion's League Final
The Shebab gunman on the left appears to be a Gunner, i.e. an Arsenal fan... In honor of today's Champion's League final, I republish my op ed that ran in the National a year ago. What was most fascinating about the photograph of the Somali gunman who was part of the crowd dragging the body...Annals of Globalization
The Shebab, the Shahids and the Champion's League Final
The Shebab gunman on the left appears to be a Gunner, i.e. an Arsenal fan... In honor of today's Champion's League final, I republish my op ed that ran in the National a year ago. What was most fascinating about the photograph of the Somali gunman who was part of the crowd dragging the body...99c Blogging
Is Israel Planning to Provoke Iran?
My, oh my, where would we be without a free press in Israel? Haaretz's Aluf Benn today not only outlines how Netanyahu is continuing to build momentum -- and public expectation -- for war with Iran, but he also offers some insights into just how the Israelis might go about positioning themselv...Featured Analysis
Why Obama Must Shackle Bibi
Without any sense of irony, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told fellow paranoiac Jeffrey Goldberg that Iran is ruled by "an apocalyptic messianic cult." Yet, as Goldberg makes clear, perhaps inadvertently, Netanyahu himself is guilty of the same: His view of Iran as simply the latest ...Unholy War
Israel's Apartheid Anxiety
Israel fears being targeted by a grassroots boycott movement of the type that was so effective in pressuring South Africa to end apartheid In a remarkable interview last November, the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert cautioned that unless it could achieve a two-state solution quickly, Israel...The Whole World's Africa
Congo's Not Africa's WWI, It's Worse Than That
If there is a European analogy to be applied in the Congo, it would be the brutal Thirty Year War in Germany that ended in 1648Shameless Cronyism
Embedded with the Jihadis
My crazy friend Nir Rosen goes on embed with the Taliban, and finds out just why the U.S. can't win in AfghanistanRebellion Into Money
Why Joe Strummer Was a Socialist
Hint: It had nothing to do with bailing out banksA Skeptical Read
All the Hysteria That's Fit to Print, Take II
Now the New York Times wants you to take seriously the idea that the prime issue for the American voter is the danger of al-Qaeda acquiring nuclear weapons. Oh, grow up!Could Die Laughing
Whatever Became of that Nice Mr. Blair...
The problem with a global conversation between Muslims and Christians refereed by Tony Blair? Two words: Tony Blair.Hear! Hear!
Bush's 'Peace' Effort Imperils Peace
Daniel Levy explains why the farcical negotiations between Olmert and Abbas actually undermine the prospects for Mideast peaceA Wondering Jew
Israel is 60, Zionism is Dead, What Now?
Israel at 60 is an intractable historical fact. It has one of the world's strongest armies, without peer in the Middle East, and its 200 or so nuclear warheads give it the last word in any military showdown with any of its neighbors. Palestinian militants may be able to make life in certain parts...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 BalkansCuisine
Yummy yummy Umami
Why a leftover lamb bone turned a bean stew into an ecstatic eventHousekeeping
'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 themNew York Moments
The Debka Made ‘Em Do ItFrom Tony's Archive
A Playground Lesson for Bush
How a spontaneous alliance of jocks, do-gooders and lesser bullies against the biggest bully at the school changed the balance of power at Milnerton Primary
