The Ron Paul Flap

The current controversy on the left about Ron Paul suggests a need to recall that old political maxim: “No permanent friends; no permanent enemies.”  Overall philosophical agreement is great, but the fact is that when... [Read]

Obama-Paul: What Would You Do?

With Barack Obama running just four points ahead of Ron Paul (51-47% according to last month’s CNN poll), it might be useful to ask ourselves where we would come down in such a race. Not that there’s any realistic possibility... [Read]

Presidential Primaries: A Perspective on an A...

The final installment in this three part series makes the case that the presidential primaries are/should be/could be a national political discussion – happening only every four years, at best – that a permanent American... [Read]

Know Thy Rules: The Effectiveness of a Third ...

When you play a game you want to know the rules. You don’t, for instance, play American football by the rules of European football – otherwise known here as “soccer” – just because “Football’s football.”... [Read]

San Francisco: Reaganomics is Back!

San Francisco might have seemed one of the least likely cities to rip a page from the economic play book of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.  Yet in approving a tax holiday for Twitter, Inc., the giant of micro blogging,... [Read]

India’s Human Rights Challenge

In many parts of its rural hinterland, India’s democracy faces a major challenge. Over the past few decades, in many of the poorest and most isolated districts in the country an armed Maoist movement known as the Naxalites... [Read]


Interventions Past: Getting the Record Straig...

The jumbled accounting of the 1999 events in Kosovo that respected Israeli journalist and peace activist Uri Avnery musters in support of the current Libya bombing campaign illustrates just how far the fog of war may extend. ... [Read]

The Arrogance of Power

“These people weren’t gathering for a bake sale … They were terrorists.” So went the American response to Pakistan’s complaint that our drone-launched missiles killed mostly “peaceful citizens, including... [Read]

One More from the Gipper

Right around the time the nation was commemorating the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth came a story out of Allentown, Pennsylvania that had the makings of great comedy – if it weren’t true.  It had to do... [Read]

Why Are We In Afghanistan – Still?

You have to wonder what it might take to get the man in the White House to acknowledge just how absurd the current U.S. military effort in Afghanistan has become. Would the president of Afghanistan himself telling us to start... [Read]

Our Foreign Policy Minsky Moment

If there can be any kind of silver lining to our ongoing “Great Recession” it might be that it has elevated the level of economic discussion, at least slightly. For instance, when’s the last time you heard anyone... [Read]

Nuclear Posture Review: Oops! We Missed One!

In one of the more remarkable public course changes Washington has yet seen, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has added Israel’s name to the previously released short list of exceptions to the general policies articulated... [Read]