Journal Entry #8
NORFOLK, Conn.—I suppose this past week or so is a harbinger of the political season to come. Anyone who reads the columns knows I have little respect for the political process in this country. It is an offense to be…
Donald Trump’s biggest crime is his honesty: How he exposes the sickening rot at the core of the GOP
Republicans have spent decades dressing up fear as courage, pretending at seriousness while advancing hysteria. Many of us cast last week’s Republican debate in Cleveland as entertainment—I have heard the thought repeated many times—but this seems to me a cheap…
Journal Entry #7
S.FREEPORT, MAINE—The biggest even in foreign affairs of the past week or so, trumping (as it were) even Schumer’s capitulation to the Israeli lobby on the Iran accord, is the Republican debate sponsored by Fox News in Cleveland last week….
How GOP Candidates Would Steer U.S. Foreign Policy
With the start of a long season of debates and campaigning among presidential hopefuls, it’s time to start scrutinizing foreign policy positions more closely along party lines. How will a Republican president steer the nation in a complex global world?…
The U.S.-Russia “phony war”: How Washington warmongers could bring us from stalemate to catastrophe
One of two outcomes is likely: Another long Cold War, or a great power conflict. The Ukraine crisis and the attendant confrontation with Russia assume a “phony war” feel these days. As in the perversely calm months between the German…
Iran and Climate Change – Two Global Issues on Obama’s Bucket List
The Iran nuclear accord and the White House’s new plan to cut power-plant emissions, to be unveiled Monday, have but one thing in common. It’s a question, and it’s the biggest now facing this nation: Do Americans want the U.S….
Journal Entry #6
LAKE SUNAPEE, N. H.—I wrote twice this week on the Obama administration’s new accord with Turkey, providing landing rights for Americans fighter jets and putting Turkish F-16s in the air alongside the U.S.A.F. craft. These pieces are now posted. So…
Our monumental Turkey blunder: Who put the American exceptionalists back in charge?
Take a hard, careful look at what the hawks in the Obama administration—and it is crawling with them—have just done by bringing Turkey into the fight against the Islamic State. Given the blur the campaign against ISIS has become, with…
Obama Paid a High Price to Get Turkey to Fight ISIS
The war against the Islamic State just widened to include Turkey as a combatant. The Obama administration has long tried to persuade the Islamic government of RecipTayip Erdoğan to get into the fray, but the vital question still needs to be…
Journal Entry #5
NORFOLK, Conn., July 23—I’ve been moved more than once over the past couple of years to return to a book that, indeed, moved me greatly when I first read it some years ago. I have a very fine first of…
Recent Comments