Fragments of a blog
Fragments of a blog
I am almost certain now that behind the scene negotiations are going on among the US, France, Russia, etc., on how the Iraqi spoils should be divided. Once they agree on who gets to keep what contracts and debt claims,…
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…
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…
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…
Based on Juan Non-Volokh’s analysis of Estrada’s Hispanic-ness being essential to the filibuster, I have to conclude that both parties concur about (or in?) one point. There is a bipartisan consensus that there is an implied Hispanic quota for the…
On my first or second day in Nashville, TN, I remember having breakfast on the ground floor of a Days Inn — virtually in a corner of the lobby. Four tables and a large-screen TV set. A televangelist has just…
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…
A million people marching through London. Impressive. Even at the peak of the reform movement in Russia, in the late 1980s, the largest gatherings in Moscow totaled 500,000 [up to a million probably – added in July 2017] people or…
I wonder if USS Clueless’ team are mostly being sarcastic (e.g., in the choice of name for their space ship). They quote a translation of this Le Monde op-ed and pretend to be bewildered by its “arrogance and condescension”. But…
Drezner on “we saved their cheese-eating asses”. (I stumbled on the link at vpostrel.com.) Here’s my two cents: It’s simply incorrect to say that the US “saved France from Hitler” without mentioning the Allied war effort in general. Suppose an…
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…
The US should go to war if it believes it is absolutely necessary. Apparently, most Americans think it is — although I doubt this is an informed opinion. But they shouldn’t expect the world, even their traditional allies, to follow…