Blog
Live From A Huge Foreign-Policy Confab
I’m in one of the two massive ballrooms of the Washington Convention Center, where in a few minutes, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going to present a tour of the foreign-policy horizon. That’ll kick off a day-long event sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Peace called “Passing The Baton,” outlining the national-security and foreign-policy [...]
Don’t Be So Sure About Haass, Holbrooke and Ross
Marc Ambinder reported this morning that three top diplomats — Richard Haass, Richard Holbrooke and Dennis Ross — will be President-elect Barack Obama’s envoys to various global hellholes: Iran, Israel/Palestine, and Afghanistan/Pakistan/India. He says it’s “confirmed,” but I’ve heard otherwise.
It appears, particularly with Haass, the chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, that this is [...]
Do We Really Have To Call Steve Kappes A Torturer?
First Read reported that Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) choice for CIA director is current deputy director Steve Kappes. Kappes, unlike Leon Panetta, is a consummate intelligence professional. He played a key role in the nuclear disarmament of Libya, speaks Persian and Russian, and was purged by Porter Goss in 2004 for insufficient political loyalty to [...]
The Most Corrupt Presidency Ever!
It’s still just the embryonic Barack Obama administration, of course, but the light-speed downfall of Bill Richardson, Obama’s nominee for Commerce Dept. secretary, has brought back a conservative meme that had faded after Obama escaped blame in Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s scandals.
I should be clear: This is a conservative movement meme, not something the Republican [...]
That’s What I Call Reporting!
Michelle Malkin, taking umbrage at Matthew Yglesias’s assertion that there aren’t many conservative bloggers with reporting skills (”Bullcrap.”), suggests the work of Bay Area-based Zombie.
Internet journalist/blogger and Little Green Footballs regular Zombie (not “conservative” per se, but rather anti-sharia/anti-jihad/anti-anti-American/anti-extremist Left) did extraordinary work digging up documents related to Barack Obama and left-wing terrorist Bill [...]
Pleasant Thought for the New Year
Happy New Year!
It might be a good idea to begin 2009 thinking happy thoughts. Here is my contribution:
There are now just 19 days left in the Bush administration.
Hard Times Hit the Blackjack Table
We were talking Monday about the unexpected effects of the foreclosure crisis, like skateboarders in California taking advantage of empty swimming pools behind vacant homes to practice their craft. Here’s another: Gambling is falling in popularity as more people choose instead to pay their bills, Bloomberg reports. That means tough times for Atlantic City, where [...]
Study: Virginity Pledges Don’t Work
Confirming what many have been saying for years, a new survey finds that teenagers who pledge to forgo sexual activity until marriage were just as likely to engage in premarital sex as those who do not. Adolescents who take the pledge are also less likely than their peers to use birth control or condoms when [...]
The Third Lebanese War Won’t Be in Lebanon
There’s no sugarcoating this. Israel is looking like a country that is quickly losing its mind. Consider this statement:
In an interview Tuesday, Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said Israel’s main goal is to “destroy completely” what she called a “terrorist gang.”
I truly truly hope this is empty rhetoric. Because the evidence is accumulating that Israel is determined [...]
After the ‘Military Targets’ Run Out
Gershon Shafir has a really perceptive post at the group-blog adjunct to Informed Comment asking what happens in Gaza as the Israeli bombing progresses past its third day. Consider:
First, Israel is about to exhaust obvious and legitimate military targets, especially those available for aerial bombardment, even under their broadest interpretation. Admittedly Hamas never seriously tried [...]
