Category: Politics & World Affairs
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It is simple – like ribald fun with Chinese fortune cookies. Except, with neo-cons, the future is bloody and solutions to world problems, always lethal. So, how to make sense of grave and ponderous neo-con punditry? Just add "by killing people" at the end of all their statements. "Everyone knows you can get a good…
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Be very afraid. They are not plain old terrorists any more. Now we have Islamo-fascists, Islamo-Nazis and Islamo- commies. Having made a mess of tackling the real problem of global terrorism and with an election looming, the new right wing talking points require that glorious old wars and ancient enemies be invoked to scare the…
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Required reading for those who "really" want long lasting peace in the middle east.
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The US has long operated on the principle that tyrannical rules in Asia and Latin America are quite okay, in fact desirable, as long as they are "our" tyrants – democracy be damned. That unprincipled foreign policy made possible brutal, authoritarian regimes in Chile, Argentina Colombia, El Salvador, Iran, and yes, Iraq. Irrational and obsessive…
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Another ethically challenged, pious Republican has spoken out in favor of religious meddling in public life. The notorious Katherine Harris aka Cruella Deville, the dishonest Florida Secretary of State who helped put George W. Bush in office is overflowing with religious fervor. Her nefarious role in the disputed 2000 electoral circus is not the only…
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Cindy Sheehan may have a new ally – the mother of another dead soldier, shocked and grieved by an encounter with George W. Bush’s heart of stone. Dolores Kesterson, whose son Erik was killed in Iraq in 2003, was treated with an amazing lack of grace by the Commander In Chief. During a recent meeting…
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Bush and his Homeland Security chief remind us constantly that they are doing all they can to protect Americans from the perils of terrorism. As the November elections draw near, we will hear a steady rise in the drumbeat of this claim. They justify wars, suspension of civil liberties and draconian measures at airports by…
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It looks like Senator George Allen (R-VA), who has his eye on the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, may have sunk his chances in the national arena by singling out and belittling a South Asian man, the only person of color in the audience, at a campaign rally in southwestern Virgina. Is it any wonder our…
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A few months ago, I had described Pakistan’s sinister role in global terrorism using another dance analogy. Nothing much has changed since then in the continuing Danse Macabre and Pakistan’s role as its major choreographer. The recent bust of the British terrorism plot of blowing up airplanes using liquid explosives was facilitated by the cooperation of…
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Totalitarian vocabulary does not evolve much with time – be it from the left or the right. Especially when it comes to angry catch phrases and code words to describe enemies of the "cause." A while ago readers were asked to try and tell Hitler and Ann Coulter apart. Now another conservative commentator points fingers…
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In the run up to the November 2006 elections, two state primaries caught the attention of the nation. One Democrat, one Republican – both involving influential politicians. One lost, the other won. The not wholly unexpected outcomes of the two elections were made more noteworthy for the subsequent unseemly behavior of both politicians. Tom DeLay,…
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The image of the US abroad since the Iraq invasion has tarnished somewhat. Instead of the free, open and welcoming nation, America is now viewed as suspicious, aggressive and heavy handed – especially by Muslims and even some non-Muslims, who may look like Muslims in the eyes of the Homeland Security officials at the airports.…
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Another interesting article about shrewd application of art to influence perception of reality – this time about war and peace. (click to enlarge) LONDON, Aug. 7 — It was not a happy coincidence that the Victoria and Albert Museum’s splendidly refurbished Islamic art gallery opened here in late July, just as the Middle East was…
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A hue and cry has been raised over the levels of pesticide found in Coca Cola and Pepsi sold in India, with many states jumping on the bandwagon to announce bans on soft drink sales. But is it only the soft drinks which are to blame?On a trip to India made in July 2004, I noticed…
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