July 04, 2009

Reading Independence Day in Iran

(this is Scott Harrop writing) Keyed to Ameica's 4th of July celebration, I have the pleasure of publishing an essay with R.K. Ramazani that is appearing in multiple outlets via...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:57 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

June 10, 2009

WaPo's Kessler pulls punches on Ross

The WaPo's Glenn Kessler had an article today in which he deals with the topic of Dennis Ross's objectivity and the appropriateness of having this person, of all available people,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:40 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

May 24, 2009

Newsweek: "Everything you know about Iran is Wrong"

Check out the June 1st Iran-focused issue of Newsweek, which audaciously proclaims, Everything you know about Iran is wrong. (unless, of course, you're a regular jwn reader) In editor Farheed...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 08:53 PM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

May 15, 2009

My IPS piece on Netanyahu's big meeting with Obama

... is here. Also here. What I didn't have the space to put in there were two things: 1. My judgment (as explored here before now) that Bibi might well...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:25 PM | Fulltext link (23 comments)

May 08, 2009

Advancing Security and Opportunity -- US Style

The military effort to "advance security and opportunity, so that Pakistanis and Afghans can pursue the promise of a better life" is accelerating in both countries. It sounded good when...
Posted by Don Bacon at 07:28 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

April 20, 2009

Baskerville Q&A with Thomas M. Ricks

At the end of this morning's entry about the centennial of Iran's "American martyr," I noted that Dr. Thomas M. Ricks was to discuss his forthcoming book about Howard Baskerville...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 06:56 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

More on Jane Harman, high-ranking pro-Israel mole?

Just how deeply have the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC and its longtime backers and contacts in the Israeli securocracy wormed their way into the heart of US national decisionmaking? Considerable new...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:07 AM | Fulltext link (30 comments)

April 15, 2009

Who's In Charge?

In Iraq, that is. Under a security agreement signed between Washington and Baghdad last November during president George Bush's tenure, U.S. troops will withdraw from towns and cities by June...
Posted by Don Bacon at 12:53 AM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

March 31, 2009

The Devil Made Us Do It

The Devil, like the Lord, works in mysterious ways. ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) - A woman accused of taking more than $73,000 from the Arlington church where she was an administrative...
Posted by Don Bacon at 12:30 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

March 26, 2009

US security mandarins urge action on Palestine peace

Two important op-eds in the major US MSM today. In this one in the NYT, Roger Cohen reports on a new initiative in which ten significant American national-security mandarins have...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:35 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

March 23, 2009

Jewish American opinion evolving on Palestine

The progressive Jewish lobbying group J Street has published the results of a new nationwide poll it conducted of Jewish Americans between February 28 and March 8. The poll had...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:58 PM | Fulltext link (54 comments)

Was Peres trying to "Sabotage" Obama?

Two days ago, in the discussion under my entry about Obama's NowRuz message to Iran, I noted that Israel's President Shimon Peres had issued his own NowRuz message to Iran...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 07:09 AM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

March 20, 2009

Obama's NowRuz Message: "A New Beginning"

About an hour ago, the White House web site released a startling video message from President Obama to all those who celebrate NowRuz, the (Persian) New Year. Taking advantage of...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:01 AM | Fulltext link (44 comments)

February 27, 2009

My IPS piece on Israel's lurch to the right, and peace prospects

... is here. Also here. It contains some key points from my recent interview with Ramallah PM Salam Fayad....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:56 AM | Fulltext link (25 comments)

February 22, 2009

Black is Black, I Want My Barry Back

NOTE: Helena and I have been thinking quite independently along similar lines, which is not an isolated occurrence. Approximately half of the CIA budget is reportedly devoted not to intelligence...
Posted by Don Bacon at 12:01 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

February 01, 2009

Iran Revolution at 30: Beyond Paradox

Washington's venerable Middle East Institute has released a stunning collection of essays entitled, The Iranian Revolution at 30. Featuring diverse contributions from 53 international scholars and policy participants, the collection...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:23 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

January 30, 2009

My IPS analysis on Obama's Middle East policy so far

Read it here....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:50 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

January 27, 2009

Smart Power 101

WARNING: There will be a test Goldilocks was very tired by this time, so she went upstairs to the bedroom. She lay down in the first bed, but it was...
Posted by Don Bacon at 12:35 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

January 23, 2009

IPS articles from Syria and Washington, DC

I've been really busy these past couple of weeks-- plus, figuring out too much new technology. So, to catch up a little, here are the last two pieces of News...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:36 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

January 08, 2009

"National Security Mom" - Gina Bennett

For too long, Americans have been intimidated by TV "experts" who tell them why being "tough" is the only way to defeat terrorism. Gina M. Bennett begs to differ in...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:10 AM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

December 31, 2008

Gaza: the importance of the Bob Gates straddle

Yesterday, as I noted here, Condi Rice gave a degree to acquiescence to a much-needed statement calling for "an immediate and permanent ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas/Gaza, that had been...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:44 PM | Fulltext link (22 comments)

December 01, 2008

Obama's foreign affairs team and Arab-Israel diplomacy

His foreign affairs team comes, now, as no surprise. But what was welcome in his speech in Chicago today was the prominent mention he made of the need to find...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:40 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

November 23, 2008

Rumsfeld, Kagan, and Chalabi in the NYT

I can't believe that the NYT gave a huge chunk of its prime op-ed real estate today to allow war criminal Donald Rumsfeld to offer his views and advice on...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:58 PM | Fulltext link (18 comments)

November 21, 2008

US power declining. Duh.

So the US's National Intel Council has finally released the 'Global Trends 2025' report that its analysts have been working on for many months now. Gloom 'n' doom for many...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:20 AM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

November 19, 2008

Specter, Tierney spearheading diplomatic engagement with Iran

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) are at the forefront of a bold new effort to pull US policy away from its belligerent stance towards Iran and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:40 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

November 10, 2008

Let's see the audacity in Obama's Mideast policy, too!

I loved Paul Krugman's column in the NYT today. He was arguing that Barack Obama could learn a lot from studying the record of the "New Deal" policies enacted by...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:32 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

November 05, 2008

"The Reign of Witches" ending.

210 years ago on June 4th, Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Taylor, with words of wisdom that speak as clearly to recent ills as to Jefferson's day. Jefferson then was...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:15 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

November 02, 2008

Biggest items on next Prez's plate

Here's a good question: Why would anyone want to become president of the United States at a time of such huge and multifaceted crises? Well, I guess two years ago,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:45 AM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

October 20, 2008

US Iraq policy beyond November 4

Electing Barack Obama is not going to "solve" the many urgent problems Americans face in their (our) long-misguided policy in Iraq. I've been lucky in the past few weeks to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:41 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

October 03, 2008

Wall St. bailout passes, military budget bulge is next

The House of Representatives passed the Wall Street bailout bill this afternoon. So since the Senate passed it earlier, it will now shortly become enacted into law. (Update: The President...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:43 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

September 15, 2008

US share of global arms market exploding

This time last year, when I was poring over the figures for the shares of the global arms market held by each of the big exporters for my Re-engage book,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:06 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

August 20, 2008

NATO's crisis

... Hint: It isn't just the organization's massively long over-reach in Afghanistan, as revealed in the ever-mounting casualties among western forces and the continuing, dire crises of insecurity and pauperization...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:02 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

August 15, 2008

Yglesias nails McCain

Think Progress and Matt Yglesias's blog, now also over at the Center for American Progress, are emerging as two of the most thought-provoking blogs on foreign policy decisionmaking in Washington....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:06 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

August 13, 2008

Georgia: More grandstanding?

If the situation in Georgia weren't so tragic, it would be pretty amusing to see George W. Bush now posing as the guardian and gatekeeper of international legitimacy. In his...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:22 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

August 12, 2008

On US over-stretch

When I blogged about the Ossetia crisis Sunday, I wrote that one thing it clearly showed was that "The 'west' is hopelessly over-stretched, what with all its current commitments of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:01 PM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

July 30, 2008

Americans and distress abroad: The vital "Who" question?

One thing I've noticed again and again and again is the-- in many ways admirable-- instinct of many Americans to think that they (we) and/or the US government has to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:39 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

July 10, 2008

Bush misquotes Jefferson

Stirred by President Bush's actual comments at Monticello on July 4th, Ruhi Ramazani and I (sh) published a comment in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch: Bush's War Betrays the Sage of Monticello's...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:47 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

July 05, 2008

Bush at Monticello: The Irony

Dan Jordan, outgoing and venerated President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, is getting more "love" than usual this past week. Many were dismayed that Monticello, Jefferson's historic home, had invited...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:40 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

June 15, 2008

US Diplomats and Boumediene Case

I too am encouraged by the US Supreme Court's Boumediene v. Bush ruling that detainees held at Gunatanamo Bay are entitled to Habeas Corpus protection -- the right to challenge...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:03 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

June 02, 2008

Those commander-in-chief videoconference records

It has been a new and notable feature of the present administration's wars that the Prez has "reached down deep" into the command structure to build personal relationships with the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:53 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

May 30, 2008

Scott McClellan-- some remorse maybe??

I have been as intrigued as everyone else by the fact that former White House spokesman Scott McClellan has published a book accusing President Bush of having engaged in spin...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:53 AM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

May 27, 2008

Bushists' Quarantine Wall crumbles further

For the past seven years the Bush administration has pursued an often ruthless campaign to impose and maintain a complete ban on any of its allies having dealings with the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:18 AM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

May 24, 2008

Honey, I shrunk the superpower...

Rami Khouri has some excellent commentary today on the currently very evident contraction of US diplomatic power in the Middle East. He surveys the past week's breakthroughs in intra-Lebanese reconciliation...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:30 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

May 15, 2008

Oops, George, your time-frame slip is showing!

At the Annapolis summit last November, Pres. Bush pledged that he would work to secure a final-status Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement before his term in office ends. Soon after that, the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:46 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

May 11, 2008

Bush's conference in Jerusalem

Pres. Bush is scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Once there he'll be the guest of honor at a big international conference that Israeli Pres. (and former war-launcher) Shimon...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:57 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

May 08, 2008

Bush heading into ME 'Cyclone'?

Pres. and Mrs. Bush are headed to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt next Tuesday, on a trip that will run through May 18. They will arrive in Israel on the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:52 PM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

April 08, 2008

Iran's US Policy in a Nutshell

My (Scott) octogenarian mentor and friend, Ruhi Ramazani, took a stab last week at reducing a lifetime of observations about Iranian foreign policy into a 20 minute presentation for an...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 04:32 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

April 07, 2008

Who is the greatest strategist of them all?

This week is (once again) going to be Petraeus and Crocker week on Capitol Hill, with the military and civilian heads of the US occupation in regime appearing before a...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:22 AM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

March 29, 2008

Charlottesville forum: US, Iran, & Hope?

For those near Charlottesville, Virginia Sunday evening, consider joining a forum on US-Iran Relations that convenes at 6:00 p.m. at the Charlottesville Mennonite Church. (corner of Monticello Ave. and Avon...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 05:31 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

March 21, 2008

Bush's inflammatory and inaccurate accusations against Iran

On Wednesday-- the same day Dick Cheney was blowing off the recent, much less alarmist National Intelligence Estimate on Iran-- our president was making an audiotape to be broadcast into...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:03 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

March 15, 2008

Kissinger: "Talk to Iran"

Late Thursday night, Henry Kissinger gave an interview with Bloomberg TV, and the 13+ minute segment can be viewed via this link. Kissinger is reputed to be among US Presidential...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:52 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

January 19, 2008

How to Prevent War at the Strait of Hormuz

R.K. Ramazani weighs in with an essay on how to prevent military incidents at the Strait of Hormuz from catalyzing war between Iran and the United States. Ramazani, known widely...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:05 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

January 15, 2008

More on 'Filipino Monkey', need for hotline

The reporters Andrew Scutro and David Brown-- writing for the Navy Times, no less-- delved into some of the questions I raised here about who in the Navy decided to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:14 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

January 14, 2008

Rhetorical high points of Bush's ME trip

Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:12 PM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

January 11, 2008

"Tonkin"-type escalation averted in Persian Gulf? Hearings?

The agility of the Iranian government's information capabilities has protected the US from what could well be an attempt by some moles deep within the Pentagon to jerk our country...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:33 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

January 07, 2008

Bush in Middle East: Region underwhelmed/ aghast

President Bush's determination to leave Washington tomorrow for a week-long overseas trip looks strangely evocative of Nixon's disaster-plagued last year in office. The lucky hosts of Bush on his out-of-DC...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:21 AM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

December 12, 2007

Lobe on NIE-sparked fissures in Neocon Central

Jim Lobe, who has brought his expert eye to the art of watching official Washington for many years now, has an excellent entry on his blog titled Key Neo-Cons Giving...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:45 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

December 10, 2007

Annals of imperial contraction: Aden, 1967

I'm a few days late, but November 30 was the 40th anniversary of the final withdrawal of British forces and power from Aden, now part of a unified Yemeni Arab...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:23 AM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

December 03, 2007

My CSM op-ed on post-Annapolis diplomacy

Today's Christian Science Monitor carries the op-ed I wrote (last Friday morning) about the post-Annapolis diplomacy. The title is For Mideast peace, think bigger; Regional stability involves more than the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:05 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

November 29, 2007

Sadat and Saudis tried to prop up failing Nixon?

Yet more from the Nixon tapes, which will prove to be, I think, a huge treasure trove. (The Nixon Archives link to the new releases is here.) The WaPo's Walter...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:17 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

November 27, 2007

Condi's conversion, Bush, etc

Two fascinating pieces in today's NYT. This one by Elisabeth Bumiller chronicles Condi rice's conversion from being a big Israeli-Arab negotio-skeptic to now being the cheerleader for Bush's extremely belated...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:04 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

November 26, 2007

State Dept spin on Annapolis: Other possible scenarios?

The very well-informed Boston University expert on Lebanon and the Middle East, Dick Norton, had a great catch on his "Speaking Truth to Power" blog yesterday: the text of the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:15 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

November 22, 2007

Annapolis guessing game, prospects

The current guessing game in the US and Israel is over "which of the Arab states will participate, and at which level." Actually, for many ardent pro-Israelis inside and outside...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:27 PM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

November 15, 2007

Washington's continued coup preparations for Pakistan

So here's the deal: The Bush administration, which until recently has been pushing Pakistan's Prez Musharraf very hard to "take off his uniform" and rule as a civilian, has become...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:03 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

November 10, 2007

UN expert on prospects for "Annapolis"

(Note: On 11/21/07 I revised the text of this post just a little, to increase the accuracy of my portrayal of the USIP event. ~HC ) Because of my continuing...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:24 PM | Fulltext link (28 comments)

November 04, 2007

Bushites and Pakistan: Strategic erosion, diplomatic own-goals

The first thing to note is that the (linked) security situations in Pakistan and Afghanistan have been getting significantly worse over the past 18 months. That is bad news-- because...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:08 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

November 03, 2007

1956 and all that

Last night, Bill and I hosted a fun little dinner party with some old friends (and one new one) in Washington DC. The conversation turned to 1956. Firstly, in the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:02 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

September 26, 2007

Brzezinski on the power to control vs. power to destroy

I was (re-)reading Zbigniew Brzezinski's recent, shortish book Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower, actually looking for a short couple of sentences that might work as...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:23 PM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

September 25, 2007

Ramazani: "Bridging the Divides"

** Updates posted below ** As regular justworldnews readers will recognize, Helena and I have presented and commented on numerous essays here by R.K. - "Ruhi" - Ramazani. Here's one...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 07:59 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

September 08, 2007

Senator Chuck Hagel to "retire"

The New York Times web site is reporting that Senator Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, will not run for re-election to the Senate, nor for the White House. We've written about Senator...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 06:14 PM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

September 07, 2007

Cartoon: Iranians as Cockroaches!?

I learned today of a particularly disturbing political cartoon published on September 4th in the Columbus (Ohio) Post-Dispatch. Drawn by Michael Ramirez, the cartoon very much illustrates themes I've written...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:14 PM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

September 05, 2007

What have the Bushites done to US national power?

So as you may all have gathered, I'm deeply into a bit of Realist thinking this week. This is all part of the intellectual work that is mulching down...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:31 PM | Fulltext link (18 comments)

An Iranian Surprise (or not)

I'm pre-occupied at the moment on two legacy projects, including an essay on former Iranian President Khatami. Nearly a year ago here at Monticello's International Center for Jefferson studies, Khatami's...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:26 AM | Fulltext link (25 comments)

August 25, 2007

Bush vs. JAG (w/ help from TJ)

Today's Boston Globe reported startling dissent at the top ranks of America's military lawyers toward the Bush Administration's recent rule-making on CIA interrogations of prisoners. Read the whole report here....
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:11 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

August 22, 2007

Bush, Vietnam, and genocide in Cambodia

So what would that well-known Vietnam war-evader George Bush have wanted the US actually to do in Vietnam rather than withdraw when it did?? That excellent question was raised by...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:35 PM | Fulltext link (23 comments)

August 21, 2007

Why Arms Sales to the Persian Gulf will Backfire

Recent Bush Administration plans to sell $20 billion in arms to the Gulf Arab states (while giving $30 billion plus to the Israelis) are being defended primarily within the logic...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:25 PM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

August 17, 2007

Film review: No End in Sight

Last night we were in DC, and we got to see No End in Sight, a movie released about three weeks ago that relentlessly tracks one key aspect of the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:50 PM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

August 06, 2007

Bush vs. Karzai

Sometimes a simple pairing of quotes speaks volumes. Case in point - Presidential comments about Iran by Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai and America's George Bush. Yesterday, Karazai appeared on CNN's Late...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 04:31 PM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

July 14, 2007

Out of Iraq and Into Iran?

Pressure at long last is mounting across the U.S. political spectrum and heartland for either a withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, or a dramatic pull-back from the front-lines. You'd...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:49 AM | Fulltext link (30 comments)

July 07, 2007

Options, tables, and Iran

There she was again, yesterday, Condoleezza Rice, talking to the audience of the CNBC t.v. channel about the fact that, regarding Iran, "all US options are on the table." But...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:35 PM | Fulltext link (24 comments)

June 13, 2007

Final CSM column: on the US and the UN, in Iraq

So Thursday's CSM will be publishing the final column in the series I have published with them since 1990. It is here. (Also here.) In it, I write: Can Washington...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:29 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

June 09, 2007

Condi Rice's "Uniquely American Realism"

On Thursday, June 7, Secretary Rice gave a a speech at the Economic Club of New York that was the most sustained expression of her view of the world that...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:04 PM | Fulltext link (27 comments)

June 08, 2007

40 years ago: Attack on the Liberty

Forty years ago today, Israeli navy and air force units maintained a two-hour-long assault against a ship in international waters in the Eastern Mediterranean belonging to another country's navy. The...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:17 PM | Fulltext link (76 comments)

May 28, 2007

US and Iran: A welcome diplomatic opening

The US and Iranian ambassadors in Baghdad met for four hours earlier today, hosted by Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki in his office in the Baghdad Green Zone. This was the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:04 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

Bacevich: "I Lost My Son to a War I Oppose"

I know I (Scott) should say something about Andrew J. Bacevich's heartbreaking WaPo essay, "I Lost My son to a War I Oppose. We Were Both Doing Our Duty." A...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:47 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

US-Iran Talks -- and a partnership?

US-Iran watchers are holding their collective breath in hopes that the talks between America and Iran bear fruit. I'm guardedly impressed that the talks are happening. President Bush has belatedly...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:08 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

May 22, 2007

Judith Miller sighting - @ the Guardian?

There ought to be a dictionary entry for Judith Miller -- as in 1.) "journalist" of dubious reputation, 2.) front-page fiction writer; 3.) war fodder. Related google "search terms" could...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 08:13 PM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

April 18, 2007

When all else fails, blame Iran (Part II)

Matters must be really deteriorating in Afghanistan. Why else would the Pentagon brass now be darkly suggesting that Iranian arms have been "captured," supposedly on their way to the Taliban?...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:47 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

April 12, 2007

When all else fails in Iraq,...

blame Iran. It's a tried, tired, and (not) true neocon formula, dating to the very first signs of trouble in Iraq after Saddam, four years ago. It's the same ole'Allan...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:57 PM | Fulltext link (22 comments)

April 06, 2007

Pelosi and Damascus, part 2

When we left Nancy Pelosi earlier this week she was still in Damascus. Yesterday, she was in Saudi Arabia. (She said she raised with her Saudi governmental hosts the Kingdom's...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:05 AM | Fulltext link (20 comments)

March 23, 2007

GAO's Pogo Report on Unsecured Munitions In Iraq

GAO, meet POGO. Yesterday, the US Government Accounting Organization released an unclassified 35 page version of a study submitted to the Pentagon in December, with a long-winded title: "Operation Iraqi...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:12 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

March 19, 2007

US-Iran Thaw: Is it for Real?

R.K. Ramazani writes on the signs of a US-Iran "thaw" and asks ”Is it for Real?" Read the extended essay here. To get you started, I offer a few personalized...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:59 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

Drivers of US policy on Iraq

When I was in the Middle East in February, many of the people I talked to-- smart people in Arab countries who realize that the fate of their region depends...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:23 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

March 11, 2007

Halliburton's Move to Dubai: Reasons?

In our capitalist system, Halliburton ostensibly does what's best for Halliburton. No doubt... Halliburton (aka HAL on Wall Street) has announced it's moving its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai,...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:01 PM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

March 09, 2007

The US and Iran, in Iraq

One week ago today we were sitting in the lobby of our hotel in Amman, Jordan, talking with the very smart and well-informed Middle East analyst Joost Hiltermann about the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:38 AM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

March 05, 2007

Senator Webb's Leash for the Dog of War

"We have already given... one effectual check to the dog of war, by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body, from those who...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:52 PM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

February 28, 2007

Bushites forced to deal with Syria and Iran

It is excellent news that the Bushites have finally been forced-- by their own puppet government in Baghdad, no less-- to sit down at the same table with representatives of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:25 AM | Fulltext link (26 comments)

February 23, 2007

Iraq's Phoenix Rising Again?

(with thanks to Donald A. Weadon, Jr. for his comments - below)) Heeee's back. No, not Virgil Goode, (!) but Ahmad Chalabi. Friday's Wall Street Journal cover headline proclaims that...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 08:45 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

Depends what you mean by 'Honor'...

Blogger Will Bunch had a good post recently analyzing the statement Unca Dick Cheney made recently, namely that, "We want to complete the mission [in Iraq], we want to get...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:27 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

February 19, 2007

Farzaneh Milani: "Iran as Enigma to Americans"

I have the pleasure to highlight an important essay by another leading light here at the University of Virginia - Farzaneh Milani. Professor Milani, a distinguished scholar of Persian literature...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:58 AM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

February 12, 2007

Odom: "Victory is Not an Option"

Preface (note - this is Scott writing). Lest any jwn readers think my satire of CNN's 3 General Stooges incorrectly reflects a general hostility towards all things military, I note...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:31 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

February 11, 2007

Ramazani: "Wider Conflict Threatens"

The reputed "Dean" in America of Iran foreign policy studies weighs in this morning on the dangers inherent in the looming US-Iran clash and on a better way to engage...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:45 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

February 10, 2007

Choice time: unravel Al-Qaeda or fight Iran?

So just how firmly do the Bushists want to pursue the campaign to unravel Al-Qaeda? In today's WaPo, Dafna Linzer has a story, attributed largely to unnamed but concerned administration...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:29 AM | Fulltext link (27 comments)

February 08, 2007

CSM column on Arab opinion, more background

Scott H. was amazingly quick in getting his kind commentary on my latest CSM column up onto the blog. (I've also archived the column here.) I just want, quickly, to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:21 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

Sunni Arab view of US-Iran Tensions

If jwn readers and our generous host will pardon me, I (Scott) wish to draw early attention to Helena Cobban's important column in today's Christian Science Monitor. Writing from Cairo,...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:01 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

February 05, 2007

Ramazani: "Surging Backward"

We have featured several essays by R.K. Ramazani here before, and I am happy to draw attention to his latest pithy oped entitled, "Bush's 'new way leads backward." Ramazani, like...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 03:16 PM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

February 03, 2007

War-clouds over Iran?

Are the imminent arrival of the additional US Navy carrier battle group to the waters of the Persian/Arabian Gulf and the despatch of an admiral as the first-ever head of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:59 AM | Fulltext link (54 comments)

January 30, 2007

Is the Iraq war all about George W. Bush?

Several people have already commented on the disconnect between the glowing account Pres. Bush gave, in this radio interview Monday, of the performance of the US-trained "Iraqi" forces in recent...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:20 PM | Fulltext link (27 comments)

January 24, 2007

Counterinsurgency in modern times

I've been thinking more about the challenges faced by Gen. Petraeus or any other commander who tries, in the 21st century, to organize a successful counterinsurgency campaign under the circumstances...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:25 PM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

January 22, 2007

Grave implications of the Karbala raid

It seems the US authorities were not eager for the US public (or anyone else) to know the details of the lethally effective raid mounted against US occupation forces in...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:04 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

January 15, 2007

Vietnam/Iraq

Yesterday, the WaPo carried a series of three essays on the parallels between the US wars in Vietnam and Iraq, in which the authors all also tried to draw out...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:54 PM | Fulltext link (21 comments)

The President's "mind"

Does the President think the citizens he serves are that stupid? Does he assume everybody has minds turned to jello by 24? In the face of mounting bi-partisan criticisms of...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:59 AM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

January 11, 2007

Discussing Bush's speech at IFF

Joost Hiltermann, Reidar Visser, Patrick Lang, Howard Zinn, and I are all discussing the Prez's speech over at this discussion zone established by the Institute for the Future of the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:52 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

The Petraeus doctrine and extra-judicial executions.

I hope you have all now read the table I posted here yesterday, containing my notes on the text of the new US Army-and-Marines counter-insurgency manual co-authored by Gen. Petraeus....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:52 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

January 10, 2007

Bush's speech and first reactions

I just watched the President's speech. The content had just about all been strategically "leaked" to various media before hand, so there wasn't much new to hear. (I'm just waiting...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:18 PM | Fulltext link (26 comments)

January 08, 2007

Washington's 'benchmarks' for Maliki: Threatening what?

Many voices in the US policymaking elite currently like to couch their discussion of the country's Iraq policy in terms of establishing firm "benchmarks" for Nouri al-Maliki's government in Baghdad,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:31 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

January 05, 2007

New Congressional leaders weigh in on Iraq

This is good news! Okay, not perfectly wonderful news, but still, something definitely worth applauding. Today, on their second day in office Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid and House...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:08 PM | Fulltext link (36 comments)

Musical (deck-)chairs in Bush's running of Iraq policy

The Bushists have been leaking news of a fairly large number of upcoming personnel changes, amny of which have to do with the implementation of their Iraq policy. In the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:20 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

January 01, 2007

Discussing the 'surge' with Reidar Visser

Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:03 PM | Fulltext link (51 comments)

Political levees strengthening against the "surge"

The levees seem to be holding-- and indeed, to be becoming stronger by the day-- in the face of the threatened "surge". No, I'm not talking about New Orleans, but...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:28 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

December 29, 2006

Annotated Lieberman

Why We Need More Troops in Iraq By Joseph Lieberman WaPo, Friday, December 29, 2006 Text HC notes A. I've just spent 10 days traveling in the Middle East...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:01 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

Bush brings forth a mouse

The Prez, having beaten away the hands that Baker, Hamilton, and and Co. extended to him from their lifeboat, then determined that he would find his own way to swim...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:29 AM | Fulltext link (25 comments)

December 13, 2006

CSM column on why the US needs to talk with Iran, Syria

Thursday I have this column in the CSM. (Also here.) Basically I'm arguing that it's not a matter of noblesse oblige or doing anyone any favors. It's a matter of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:00 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

Cordesman declares a US defeat in Iraq

Tony Cordesman is a cautious man who is an experienced and conseravative analyst of military affairs. Well regarded inside most of the professional military and across the strategic-studies community, he...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:54 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

December 06, 2006

ISG reaction from Reidar Visser

Reidar Visser has written some very good analysis of the Baker-Hamilton-- Iraq Study group-- report. It's posted here on his historiae.org website. But I'm also going to put it up...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:28 PM | Fulltext link (22 comments)

December 04, 2006

Bush and new buddy Hakim

And yes, when I wrote the last post I was quite aware that SCIRI head Abdul-Aziz Hakim met Bush at the White House today. I just couldn't figure how to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:22 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

The destructive self-referentiality of the hegemon

Here's what I notice-- not only from Rumsfeld, Hadley, and the rest of the Bushites, but also in the vast preponderance of what passes for public "discussion" among members of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:25 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

December 03, 2006

Ramazani on engaging Iran

One month ago, I featured here an essay by my mentor, R.K. Ramazani, on how the Bush Administration was misreading Iran's nuclear policy. His latest essay in today's Daily Progress...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 09:16 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

Rumsfeld on Iraq

How does Rumsfeld view Iraq's long catastrophe? So frivolously....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:52 PM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

December 01, 2006

Baker-Hamilton: Too little, too late

I have been scrying all the best news reports I can find regarding what can credibly be known about the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. Based on past journalistic...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:38 PM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

November 29, 2006

The 'Hadley memo' on Maliki

The NYT's Michael Gordon got an apparent "scoop" yesterday by bring given the text (also here) of a classified memo that Bush's National Security Advisor, Steve Hadley, wrote on November...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:57 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

November 28, 2006

Zelikow: What does he know?

I've spent more time today wondering why, exactly, Phil Zelikow yesterday chose to resign from what looked like his dream job as Condi Rice's "Counsellor", and to do so in...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:00 PM | Fulltext link (21 comments)

Bush still shutting out Iran and Syria?

The NYT's Helene Cooper has a well-reported but very worrying piece in today's paper in which she writes: As President Bush and his top diplomats try to halt the downward...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:38 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

Zelikow resigning, Charlottesville-bound

In a surprise move, our old neighbor Philip Zelikow announced yesterday that he'll be resigning from his job as "counsellor" to Condi Rice, and returning to teach at the University...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:46 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

November 26, 2006

Chuck Hagel: Thinking again.

On August 21st, I (Scott) posted a jwn commentary on Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb) and his rather lonely, if compelling complaints against the Bush Administration approach to the Middle East,...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:42 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

November 19, 2006

Henry K: Now he tells us!

Bush administration eminence grise Henry Kissinger told the BBC in an interview aired today that a US military victory in Iraq is now impossible. To be precise, he said: "If...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:18 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

November 18, 2006

Threat alert: Memo to U.S. government leaders

Avigdor Leiberman, Israel's newly appointed "Minister for Strategic Threats" has very productively been launching more than a few of them. Today, in a single speech, he: * urged Israel to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:49 PM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

November 11, 2006

Bolton vetoes resolution on Gaza

This is exactly the kind of one-sided US policy action that needs to change. Bush's ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, today vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have:...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:00 PM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

November 09, 2006

Allen concedes; Bolton toasted; other prospects

This afternoon, Sen. George Allen undertook possibly the most gracious act of his career and made a very civil, realistic speech conceding victory in our state's hard-fought Senatorial election to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:07 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

November 05, 2006

Understanding Iran's Nuclear Policy (Ramazani)

Our local paper today features another of Professor R.K. Ramazani's opinion essays, this time focusing on Washington's chronic misreading of Iran's negotiating nuclear strategy, its decision-making process, the urgent need...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 05:06 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

November 04, 2006

Neocons, Chalabi, fight for exits from catastrophe in Iraq

Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:35 AM | Fulltext link (21 comments)

October 27, 2006

The 'real' George Bush?

So after his "surprise" press conference with the MSM people Wednesday morning, the Prez had a second gathering, with reps of the avowedly rightwing media, in the afternoon. Dan Froomkin...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:55 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

Reidar Visser takes on the 'Biden Plan'

I'm very happy to publish the following commentary from Reidar Visser. Please disseminate it widely. Be aware that all material published on JWN is published under a Creative Commons license,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:04 AM | Fulltext link (21 comments)

October 25, 2006

Bush administration in Iraq: Recognizing the inevitable

Bush called a "surprise" press conference at short notice this morning. For the WaPo's Bill Branigan the main story was that Bush said, ... he shares the American public's dissatisfaction...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:21 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

October 22, 2006

Zeitgeist shift in DC on Iraq

Well! The WaPo has now finally come to roughly the same position regarding the US presence in Iraq that Juan Cole was espousing in June-July 2005. In a key editorial...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:36 PM | Fulltext link (26 comments)

October 21, 2006

Jim Baker's dance of the seven veils

There's been some public buzz generated recently by this "Iraq Study Group", convened by the U.S. Institute of Peace and co-chaired by Bush I's longtime consigliere and fixer James Baker...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:30 AM | Fulltext link (20 comments)

October 01, 2006

Why are we in Iraq? (DeWine quotable)

NBC's Meet the (de)Press(ed) today included conservative host Tim Russert interviewing the two candidates for a US Senate Seat in Ohio - a slot until recently thought to be an...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 04:39 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

September 30, 2006

Woodward on Kissinger's role

Maybe I've been engaging in unsuspected age-ism all along? I just kind of assumed that everyone else regarded 83-year-old Henry Kissinger, as I did, as an out-of-it, barely articulate old...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:19 PM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

Dialogue between west and Hamas, Hizbullah?

Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:56 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

September 24, 2006

Thomas Jefferson and Iraq

Thomas Jefferson, the fourth president of the USA and the principal framer of our Declaration of Independence, is something of a local icon here in Charlottesville, his hometown. Today, my...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:54 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

WP Ahmadinejad Interview & the Stealth Dialogue

Today's Washington Post includes a remarkable interview with Iran's President Ahmadinejad, conducted by senior WaPo editor Lally Weymouth. Ahmadinejad's visit to the US, to speak at the UN, was intensely...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 03:05 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

September 21, 2006

Bushites up the military ante against Iran

Dave Lindorff has just posted an article on The Nation website about the Navy's recent issuance of "Prepare to Deploy orders" to a number of ships including the USS Dwight...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:05 PM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

September 15, 2006

The US in Iraq and Afghanistan: what to do?

The news from Iraq has been so bad, for so long, that I've been almost too depressed to even write about it. I'm not sure that any of us who...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:35 PM | Fulltext link (40 comments)

September 13, 2006

Patrick Lang: "The Best Defense..."

On 9/11, the Miller Center at the University of Virginia featured a talk by Colonel Patrick Lang - who returned here by reputation as a voice of reason, experience, "independence,"...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:28 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

September 11, 2006

GAO charts depressing picture in Iraq

The U.S. "Government Accountability Office" today released an intriguing new study titled Stabilizing Iraq: An Assessment of the Security Situation. This report is described as a "Statement for the Record...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:06 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

August 22, 2006

Bernard Lewis Watch

Bernard Lewis, where are ye when we need ye? (Irony alert) At a time when nattering bloggers, columnists, traditional conservatives, and even neoconservatives are openly questioning our rightly guided President's...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:15 PM | Fulltext link (32 comments)

August 21, 2006

Chuck Hagel: Thinking

I have long been interested in Senator Chuck Hagel, a self-styled “Eisenhower Republican” from Nebraska. Still mulling a run for the Presidency in 2008, Hagel’s latest bout of independent “free...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:24 PM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

August 14, 2006

Israel's failed 'field test' for a possible US attack on Iran

Sy Hersh's latest article in the New Yorker tells us that the Bush administration-- and in particular, Dick Cheney and his (previously indicted) Middle East hatchet-man, Elliot Abrams-- were "closely...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:46 AM | Fulltext link (27 comments)

July 29, 2006

Condi takes ownership of the assault on Lebanon

Clearsighted WaPo columnist Eugene Robinson was quite right to note in this piece yesterday the significance of the arrogant, belligerant rhetoric that US Secretary of State Condi Rice has been...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:05 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

July 28, 2006

Quotes for the record:

All too much rhetorical nonsense relating to the Lebanon crisis is afoot. Where to start? Many of the themes I raised here weeks ago are finally being taken up meekly...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 03:50 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

July 25, 2006

Kucinich leads again (in U.S. Congress)

This, from Jewish Voice for Peace: Finally, we have a bill in the House of Representatives that we need to support. Brought by Dennis Kucinich and with 23 co-sponsors, H....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:11 AM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

July 21, 2006

Is it "helpful" and "appropriate" to seek peace yet?

Spokespersons for the Bush Administration have been doing linguistic gymnastics to explain how the US is both "mourning" the loss of innocent life in Lebanon, but not yet showing any...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 03:11 PM | Fulltext link (27 comments)

July 19, 2006

George Will vs. The Weekly Standard

In a wildly confused front-page Washington Post story today (19 July), Michael Abramowitz asserts that President Bush is "facing a new and swiftly building backlash on the right over his...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 04:58 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

July 15, 2006

"A bad movie rerun" and international opinion

I'm glad Helena has already focused our attention on Friday's WaPo essay by David Ignatius. I think it worthy of further comment, particularly to draw out his points about...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 04:15 AM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

July 07, 2006

Bushites poised for anti-Palestinian veto?

So now, according to this AP report from Nick Wadhams at the UN, the Bush administration might be readying itself yet again to veto a Security Council resolution that...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:09 AM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

June 27, 2006

Graham Allison on Taqiyya?

Harvard Professor Graham Allison is one of the better known political scientists in America. His classic text, "The Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis" remains widely inflicted on...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:34 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

June 23, 2006

Bush on Gitmo, "the past," and those "absurd" public opinion polls.

On June 21st, President Bush appeared before the press in Vienna, Austria, during his meeting with EU leaders. The President's remarks resulted in at least four curious media headlines. The...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:30 AM | Fulltext link (38 comments)

June 22, 2006

Something's changed: Bush to Iran

Having closely followed the US-Iran saga for well over 20 years, I've seen a lot of false starts and missed opportunities to improve relations. Yet despite having had my hopes...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:30 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

Rice and "Jefferson's Constitution"?

If you stay around Charlottesville long enough, you are vulnerable to catching the Thomas Jefferson "bug." Happened to me too. As a result, I will be a Jefferson Fellow at...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:17 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

June 09, 2006

Ori Nir on Israel-neocon 'split' over Iran

Relevant to what I wrote here a couple of days ago-- about the politics of the reaction to Bush's overture to Iran-- the sage, well-informed Israeli journalist Ori Nir has...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:40 PM | Fulltext link (20 comments)

Salon.com article on US power shrinkage

My longish article on the broader implications of the US's still-unfolding strategic defeat in Iraq is up on the Salon.com website today. The title and sub-title that the editors gave...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:08 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

May 31, 2006

Bushites ready to talk with Iran?

Anne Gearan of AP is reporting this: The United States is prepared to join other nations in holding direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program if Iran first agrees...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:17 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

May 25, 2006

Fukuyama at Virginia

Earlier this week, Francis Fukuyama of Johns Hopkins University visited the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. Turnout was very good, even with students largely gone for the summer. Doing his...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:53 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

May 20, 2006

Yellow stars for Iranian Jews? The disinfo campaign

Back in May the US Congress, in its cravenly Israelocentric way, voted huge gobs of money to go into the destabilization of Iran under the so-called "Iran Freedom Support Act"....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:27 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

May 11, 2006

CSM column on US and the world

Here is the column I have in the CSM today. It is a plea to Americans (and our leaders) to get back to supporting the UN and its stress on...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:53 AM | Fulltext link (23 comments)

May 03, 2006

Cole, Hitchens, and the threat of a US attack on Iran

I've known Chris Hitchens for, gosh, 35 years now. He was two years ahead of me at Oxford, where we engaged in many of the same political activities. I kept...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:41 PM | Fulltext link (73 comments)

April 16, 2006

Rumsfeld: 'kinetic' and out of control

Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:24 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

April 12, 2006

CSM column on Iranian nuclear program and the NPT

The column I wrote yesterday about the Iranian nuclear program, western concerns about that, and the urgent need to preserve the NPT is now up on the Christian Science Monitor...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:40 PM | Fulltext link (46 comments)

April 08, 2006

Hersh on possible US nuclear attack on Iran

Sy Hersh has a piece in the latest New Yorker, which says that The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:32 PM | Fulltext link (62 comments)

March 16, 2006

Major new article on the pro-Israel Lobby

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt are two of the most important thinkers in the "realist" school of US foreign-policy analysts. Mearsheimer is the Wendell Harrison Professor of Political Science at...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:26 AM | Fulltext link (145 comments)

January 22, 2006

US trying to "buy" the Palestinian election

The WaPo's Scott Wilson and Glenn Kessler had an intriguing article in today's paper, in which they described how the Bushies have tried to "secretly" shovel $2 million into Palestine...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:07 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

January 13, 2006

Washington's Iranian dilemma

All three of the major Middle East crisis-areas that I identified in this JWN post last week are entering new and even more dangerous phases. That is: Iraq; Israel-Palestine; and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:53 AM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

January 03, 2006

Powell Doctrine story, concluded

Sometimes, I find that I can work my own thinking out most satisfactorily if I start writing... and then, that I will end up in places fairly different than where...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:35 PM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

January 02, 2006

Powell Doctrine to be reinstated?

In today's WaPo, Ellen Knickmeyer reports that, "The Bush administration does not intend to seek any new funds for Iraq reconstruction in the budget request going before Congress in February,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:15 AM | Fulltext link (22 comments)

December 16, 2005

George Bush and "victory"

I've been thinking a lot about George W. Bush today. Can't help it. Here's what I've been thinking... He and his administration have been making a big deal about the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:13 PM | Fulltext link (36 comments)

December 10, 2005

CSM column on diplomacy in Iraq

Here is the column of mine that ran in the CSM on Thursday. (Also, here). Sorry it took me so long to post that. I've been really busy. Alert JWN...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:39 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

December 02, 2005

Gulf of Tonkin redux, redux

Today, I received an email from Tom Cleaver of "That's Another Fine Mess" who had wanted to post a comment on my Oct. 31 post about the emergence of new...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:17 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

October 14, 2005

Epistolary fraud? Almost certainly

Juan Cole's explanation of why the "Zawahiri Letter" looks like a forgery is very convincing to me. (Al-Qaeda's leadership itself has also claimed it is such.) Juan argues that basic...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:45 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

September 08, 2005

Nations and purposes

Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:31 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

September 06, 2005

Nir Rosen, Wesley Clark, etc

I'm back in the Great Wen (Washington DC) again this week... Taking part in this mega-conference on "Terrorism, Security, and America's Purpose". It is probably an admirable venture: an attempt...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:35 PM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

August 29, 2005

Constitution-making: Philadelphia & Baghdad compared

A fabulous Billmon. A must-read for anyone interested in constitutional history in the US, Iraq, and elsewhere....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:07 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

August 25, 2005

The US and the world: the Bush-Bolton version

Well, regarding my idea that a US reconsideration of the Iraq war venture should spur our citizenry to a much deeper reconsideration of the whole relationship we seek to have...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:49 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

Feingold

A good piece about Sen. Russ Feingold and his courageous and clear stand on withdrawal from Iraq. (Hat-tip to Matt at Today in Iraq.) The piece is all worth reading....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:38 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

'America's Purpose' and the G-SAVE

I am part of a group of people discussing a background paper for a big-looking conference in DC on "Terrorism, security, and America's Purpose", upcoming Sept 6-7. I guess the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:11 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

July 08, 2005

Bushies lose influence at home & abroad

Yesterday I wrote a column for Al-Hayat about how the Bush administration has been losing political influence at home, and the probable effects of this for Middle East diplomacy. (Short...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:39 PM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

June 18, 2005

Bush's Palestinian policy

I'm in New Zealand. More on that later. But meanwhile I just wanted to make note of this very sensible op-ed by Zbigniew Brzezinski and William B. Quandt in Friday's...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:28 PM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

June 10, 2005

The US-apartheid analogy, contd.

Commenters on this recent post have asked me to spell out more about my reasons for drawing this analogy. At the top of that post, I identified four different strands...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:50 AM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

June 08, 2005

The US-apartheid analogy

Today I'm going to write a column for Al-Hayat about how the Bush administration's "campaign" for global democratization, and its claim to speak in the name of democracy worldwide, puts...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:49 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

January 23, 2005

Rumsfeld's "brave new world"

Time was, the leaders of the USA believed in a version of the "rule of law" at the international level-- that is, that every state should have equal rights and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:31 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

September 26, 2004

Warning: U.S.-sponsored regime change can leaving you drowning in [excrement]

There are so many ways that war and political conflict kills people. Getting blasted to death by high-power munitions, regular guns, or car-bombs is one way; and people who're killed...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:20 PM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

February 17, 2003

Iraq Democrats Disappointed

Back last summer, I got into a heartfelt exchange with a friend of mine who's an Iraqi democrat. His name is Siyamend Othman. He's a wise and good person, an...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:48 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

February 10, 2003

Dangers of Occupation: Taking a lesson from post-war Japan

BOSTON REVIEW: The paper copy of the latest (Feb/March) issue of BR dropped into my mailbox today. Hey, there's still something special about hard copy-- like the way you can...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:30 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

February 08, 2003

Burden of Proof

I guess it's Sunday in Japan already... Sun quite high in the sky already over that magnificent semicircle of hills that surrounds Hiroshima... So Ramesh Thakur, a wise Indian scholar...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:55 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

U.S. encourages other nations to act on 'self-defense' claim

I've been thinking more about whether the pitch Powell was trying to make Feb. 5 at the U.N. was aimed more at a domestic or an international audience. Yesterday evening...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:33 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

February 07, 2003

Like Peres, Like Powell?

Colin Powell's big oral presentation Feb 5 was aimed mostly at other governments-- right? Well, put it this way, not wholly right. In fact, a large part of the speech...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:11 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

February 06, 2003

Powell's Poor U.N. Presentation

I listened to Colin Powell's presentation at the U.N. yesterday, read the text carefully. I was sad for so many reasons. Let me count the ways: (1) Sad to see...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:13 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)