Category Middle East

Gun control in Iraq

As seen on Russian TV… “Toy Kalashnikovs are not in demand in stores now; but (or for) almost every Baghdadi family has a real one at home.” Fair enough. But what for? To shoot into the air in celebration of…

Little room for gain?

If Washington lets Turkey occupy Northern Iraq, i.e. Iraqi Kurdistan, the moral underpinnings of the war will be shattered. But since I am skeptical about their existence beyond the blogosphere, I’d rather focus on Russia’s optimal strategy. Whatever the Russian…

More Fisk

No wonder, then, that Hans Blix’s blunt refutation of America’s “intelligence” at the UN yesterday warmed so many hearts. Suddenly, the Hans Blixes of this world could show up the Americans for the untrustworthy “allies” they have become. Honestly, I…

Student essays

Robert Fisk’s comment in The Independent provokes (not deserves) a word-by-word response. In the end, I think we are just tired of being lied to. Tired of being talked down to, of being bombarded with Second World War jingoism and…

Talking price ranges

France’s opposition to war: According to Richard Perle, the price of the question is “€60bn – €75bn”. (I’ve come across $40 — $50 bn in other sources, and even as low as $15 bn in a Russian paper.) No way…

“Supposedly for medical research”

So what if, according to Alan Friedman and TNR, Rumsfeld went to Baghdad in the 1980’s to re-establish diplomatic relations despite evidence of Saddam’s using mustard gas and a nerve gas? It only means Rumsfeld should be nowhere near the…

Out of the Simpsonian

Is Jonah Goldberg writing for The Simpsons? They’d appreciate his use of Homer’s metaphors. The trouble is, the French are no surrender monkeys. It’s just not true. Not in the 20th century anyway. France fought in WWI literally to the…