W.J. Astore How about a contrary perspective on the Middle East, courtesy of my old globe? It dates from the early 1920s, just after World War I but before Russia became the Soviet Union. Taking a close look at the Middle East (a geographic term that I use loosely), you’ll notice more than a few…
Jacek Popiel (Editor’s Note: This is the final installment of Jacek’s examination of U.S. and Russian relations. Parts 1 and 2 are here and here.) Russia’s rejection of Marxism has given her and the U.S. three options in their mutual relations: Return to a friendly coexistence such as existed before 1917. Continue playing Cold War…
b. traven Alice may have survived her trip down the rabbit hole to Wonderland, but it is an unseemly place for the president of a powerful but feckless nation to venture. Nor is it likely that Obama will emerge unscathed – or further enlightened. How so? President Obama seems to have cut a deal with…
b. traven There’s an old comedy routine by Abbott and Costello. Abbott tells Costello, “Who’s on first.” (It’s a baseball routine.) Costello, not getting that the player’s surname is “Who,” keeps demanding: “No, I want to know who’s on first?” It goes downhill from there as the two comedians talk past one another, each exasperating…
b. traven We’ve spent the last twenty-five years pulling Israel’s and Saudi Arabia’s chestnuts out of the fire in the Middle East. First with Desert Storm in Kuwait in 1990-91, then Iraq in 2003, and now Iraq redux. We’ve made such a hash of these military interventions that only a mixed metaphor will do…
Greg Laxer The common thread connecting these three recently deceased individuals stands out like a flashing neon sign for an objective observer: they were all executed without benefit of arrest, arraignment and trial. That is why I dare to link the supposed arch-fiend bin-Laden with a young black man in a St. Louis suburb and…
Why You Should Expect More Bombs to be Dropped Everywhere By William J. Astore Read the entire article at TomDispatch.com When you do something again and again, placing great faith in it, investing enormous amounts of money in it, only to see indifferent or even negative results, you wouldn’t be entirely surprised if a neutral observer…
W.J. Astore The Middle East of the early 21st century is looking more and more like the Thirty Years’ War of the early 17th century that tore apart the Germanic states of the Holy Roman Empire. Religious sectarianism? In the 17th century, Catholics and Protestants killed each other with gusto. Disunity? Yes, within and among…
b. traven Knowledgeable Americans are concerned about the conflation of Israeli-Saudi foreign policies with our own. Today we are confronted with problems which both of these countries, ostensibly allies of the U.S., have foisted on the Middle East, the United States, and indeed the entire world. The Saudis with their continued support of the most…
b. traven John Kerry, America’s Secretary of State, has spent the last four months cobbling together a new Palestinian-Israeli peace process charade. To this end, he’s appointed Martin Indyk as his “Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian (Peace) Negotiations.” Why has the U.S. media failed to assess this appointment in any critical way? If Indyk had been Muslim…
The Contrary Perspective 