We’ve killed Osama bin Laden. Good. The man was, when all is said and done, an unrepentant mass murderer. But what difference will his death make? The answer is far from clear. Will bin Laden’s exit discourage Al Qaeda members?… Continue Reading
Well, it seems we’re at war again. Because that’s what our intervention in Libya is: war. Perhaps it’s a legitimate war under international law. Perhaps it’s even admirable from a moral standpoint. But war it most assuredly is. Attempts to… Continue Reading
U.S. State Department press spokesman P.J. Crowley has “suddenly resigned” — i.e., been fired — for describing the treatment of Bradley Manning as “ridiculous and stupid and counterproductive.” Manning is the soldier accused of passing hundreds of thousands of classified… Continue Reading
I recently came across this AP headline: “Anger Brews over Government Workers’ Benefits” There are a number of reasons that drive the resentment discussed in the article. One is the stagnation of working class wages over recent decades. For tens… Continue Reading
What should we do when we hear that a policy has bipartisan support? Break into applause? Or hide the silverware? Neither. Bipartisan support tells us very little — or nothing — about the wisdom of the measure at hand. Last… Continue Reading
The Obama administration has given up on getting the Israeli government to go along with a temporary freeze on settlement activity. Even an extremely generous package of inducements failed to sway Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. This is both a blow… Continue Reading
I don’t have much to add to the debate over the latest WikiLeaks document release. Some good discussions can be found here and here. But the best take on the impact of the release probably comes from Secretary of Defense… Continue Reading