The Spine
The Peace Process is Finished
Martin Indyk, of whom you may or may not know, has been in the "peace process" business for almost three decades. People so involved are usually very self-important, and Indyk is no exception. This is the case even though he has also regularly gotten himself into difficulties, including security clearance troubles while serving as U.S. ambassador to Israel. He is not exactly trusted. READ MORE >>
Obama Agrees To Tax Deal For The Rich. No, For The Very Wealthy. This Improves The Odds For Repeal Of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Scott Brown, whose election this past January to the the U.S. Senate seat of Ted Kennedy, began the Democratic tsunami in American politics. It continued during the November balloting in local and congressional elections and in gubernatorial and legislative races. Sorry to say, everything bode ill for the Democrats. Which is is say that the news for the Republicans was all good...except for the fact that Democrats won big and Republicans lost big in both California and New York. READ MORE >>
American Allies Drop Out Drip by Drip
I couldn't believe my eyes as I read Alan Cowell's New York Times report this morning that (as of now) 19 countries would not attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo for the imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Last year's honoree was Barack Obama, for whom there was a full-court attendance but whom I credit for the shameful deference to Beijing of so-called American allies. READ MORE >>
Wiki-Espionage And A Salient Comparison, Except That The 1979 Documents From Iran Had Almost Zero Circulation
The more Hillary Clinton assures us that the deluge of WikiLeaks dossiers and minutes of conversations are no problem, the more we know she is lying. She does that well, of course, and also with a certain confidence. It's home territory to her. READ MORE >>
As If We Needed Any More Proof That Obama's Courting of Turkey Was Another in His String of Failures
The courting was actually of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the personification of the new Turkey. And it wasn't as if Erdogan was an unknown quantity. READ MORE >>
A Modest Suggestion...To The New York Times
Yes, I know: Max Boot is a neo-con journalist. After all, he writes—amongst others—for Commentary. Commentary used to be edited by Norman Podhoretz. Right now, in fact, it is edited by John Podhoretz who is Norman P. and Midge Dector's son. I have my differences with them. Moreover, they have their differences with me. But they are more sensible than the editors of The Nation who, after all, don't like our country very much. And they certainly don't love it. Nor do many of its readers. Alright, that is another question. READ MORE >>
Obama's Foreign Policy is a Folly and a Fraud
Just about every principle of President Obama's foreign policy has been exposed as, at best, stupid and, at worst, treacherous. As of this writing, there have been no statements from the president. But it takes time to construct an appropriate apologia for such a wholesale disaster for such a haughty man. So, in the meantime, Hillary Clinton (why is she almost always called Hillary Rodham Clinton? is there another Hillary Clinton out there somewhere?) has been sent out to stem the damage. If the damage can be stemmed, that is. READ MORE >>
Two More on Edward Said
This is with regard to my two previous posts on "orientalism" and the "modern" Arabs. READ MORE >>
Another Refutation Of The "Orientalist" Disputations Of Edward Said
It’s not a particularly big thing. But it is ironic that it is Arabs who are undermining Professor Said’s thesis. I commented on this in ABRACADABRA, a Saturday SPINE. And then I had follow-up thoughts. Who has been driving up the prices of 19th century Orientalist paintings at the auction houses? Well, you got it: wealthy Arabs and especially the Arab royals. READ MORE >>
