Michael J. Totten

This Site Has Moved

2003-07-29T01:46:00.000-07:00

Please click here to get to the new site: http://michaeltotten.com I'll keep this site up as an archive, but all new posting will be at the new digs. Set your bookmarks and blog links. Thanks!

The Globalization of Gaza

2003-07-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

I have a new Tech Central Station article up today: The Globalization of Gaza.

Why the Hitch Beats the Rest of 'Em

2003-07-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a snip from an interview with Christopher Hitchens, just back from Iraq. CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, VANITY FAIR: Well, I had been there earlier this year in late March, in fact, on the southern border, briefly. And I remember then that the whole mind set of the press, you may remember it, was that it was a quagmire. It is a better story. Remember that week when Donald Rumsfeld seemed to have

Egypt loves Sharon?

2003-07-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

I wonder what backroom pressure led to this. CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Saturday Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was the only Israeli politician capable of forging peace between Israel and the Palestinians. "If he has the desire for a solution, I think he is the only one, and I don't think there is anybody else apparent on the Israeli political scene," said Mubarak,

Enemy Propaganda

2003-07-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

During the Iraq war I raised the eyebrows of some of my friends when I bluntly described the Arabic language TV station Al Jazeera as "enemy propaganda." Here's what Iraqi blogger Salam Pax says about Al Jazeera today. I still have hopes for the day they catch Saddam. Maybe we will have our street party then. And I would like to add that Jazeera is the worst ever. They should be banned under

The Two Faces of American Liberalism

2003-07-25T00:31:00.000-07:00

Bill Whittle: Two of the most malignant and cruel mass murderers, rapists and torturers to ever walk the earth have departed the planet – and the left sneers. [I added this link. -MT] There was a time – I can remember it clearly, though it seems a lifetime ago – when “liberals” were people who fought for humanity and human rights, people who despised murder and torture. Now, wherever we look,

Quote of the Day

2003-07-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

From Merde in France who blogs from, well, France of course. Remember Americans, you are hated here. Hated more than the worst terrorists and murderers.

The Poisoned Fruit of Anti-Americanism

2003-07-24T00:28:00.000-07:00

No more do I want to hear that Europeans are more sophisticated than Americans. Here's the latest. BERLIN, July 23 (Reuters) - Almost one in three Germans below the age of 30 believes the U.S. government may have sponsored the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, according to a poll published on Wednesday. In Europe the lunatic fringe is going mainstream. Maddening as this

Quote of the Day

2003-07-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Andrew Apostolou: Americans, they do not do things by halves. They knock you off, then they have a slide show to explain how they did it.

Personal Note to Stephen Meyer

2003-07-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

I am unable to email you. I've tried several times to respond to your several letters to me, but my emails always get bounced back. It happens whether I write to you from my yahoo account or my private account. Call tech support.

Letter from an Iranian in the US

2003-07-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a strong letter I got in my inbox this morning. Dear Michael: In response to Religious Tolerance in the US and France by Ronald Gans published on your site, I like to add not only France but most European countries lack tolerance towards religion and ethnic diversity. From my travels in Europe I have come to one conclusion, this beautiful region still has a long way to go before she

Dead Fascists

2003-07-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed in Iraq yesterday. Andrew Apostolou found one guy in Iraq who isn't happy about it. Uday Hussein whipped and clubbed Alaa Hamed. But the TV producer was still sorry to hear Saddam Hussein's vicious elder son might have been killed. ''I don't want him dead. I want to torture him first,'' Hamed told Reuters as he recalled the beatings with cables and clubs

Suicide Watch

2003-07-22T01:09:00.000-07:00

Warning to the Democratic Party. You have a serious problem. Gerard Van Der Leun: [W]ith the single exception of Rudolph Giuliani , I have never voted for a Republican in my life. … And yet…I am unwilling to consign thousands of my countrymen to death in order to bring the current crop of Democrats back into power. Call me cynical and unsupportive of a Democrat's right to hold any sort of

The UN and Democracy

2003-07-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

Kofi Annan on democracy in Iraq: Democracy should not be imposed from the outside. Well, regime-change is a fact on the ground, so there are only two other options left at this point. We could install another dictator. Or we could leave and watch the strongest thug kill his way into power. This is why the UN should have nothing to do with rebuilding Iraq (or any other country, for that

Terror and Liberalism

2003-07-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

I've said before that Paul Berman's Terror and Liberalism is the best 9/11 book I've read yet. It's especially refreshing, for me anyway, because it was written by a left-winger on the editorial board of Dissent magazine, which is many orders of magnitude to the left of The New Republic, let alone The Weekly Standard. Berman's ultimate point is straightforward. "Freedom for others means safety

The Uranium Flap

2003-07-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

I'm still agnostic about whether or not Bush and Blair lied about Saddam Hussein's supposed bid to get uranium from Niger. The scandal seems overblown. Britain still stands by its intelligence report because the government has sources, or so Britain says, that are secret. No one who hasn't seen their classified report is qualified to say if it's a lie or not. But neither am I in a position to

Where's George Orwell?

2003-07-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

The Associated Press still calls Palestinian terrorists activists. No wonder people hate the media. (Via LGF.)

Too Much Drama

2003-07-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

Someone in Britain is up to no good. Or every conspiracy monger on the planet will go batshit. Or both. LONDON - A body found Friday in central England has been tentatively identified as a missing Ministry of Defense adviser suspected as the source of allegations that the government doctored a report about Iraq's nuclear program. David Kelly's family reported him missing late Thursday when he

More on Alterman

2003-07-18T00:38:00.000-07:00

I'm not done with Eric Alterman yet. Yesterday I wrote about his exasperating response to the spike of anti-Semitic violence in France. He said, as though it's no concern of his: If it’s a really big concern of yours, by the way, the best way to ameliorate it would be for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank. The occupation is obviously its primary source. Imagine the following scenario.

Imagining Allah

2003-07-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

Charles Johnson found this story about how the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is demanding an apology from Buddhists in Flushing, New York because their Web site said Allah is a "figment of the imagination." “They have hurt the feelings of not only the seven to 10 million Muslims in America, but the almost 1.2 billion Muslims all over the world,” said Ghazi Khankan... Boo hoo,

Interview with Roger L. Simon

2003-07-18T00:11:00.000-07:00

Ross Johnson at the Writers Guild of America wrote a piece about Roger L. Simon, his new detective novel, and an interview at the end about writing, publishing, and blogging. And hey, the piece mentions me.

Religious Tolerance in the US and France

2003-07-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Ronald Gans emails: Your article made me recall something I witnessed in late September, 2001. The air was still acrid with the World Trade Center. (I live in midtown Manhattan.) I was walking up 8th Avenue between 55th and 56th Streets, during the afternoon. I passed by a taxi. The driver, a Muslim, had gotten out to pray on a rug he put down on the sidewalk. The interesting thing was, apart

50 Words to Avoid on a Date

2003-07-17T01:01:00.000-07:00

Stephen Green has a list of 50 words and phrases to avoid on a first date. Here are 50 more. Gandalf Operating System Wife-swap Oppression Free Market Despondent Quarterback Empire Half-rack Probation Officer Custody Battle Colonoscopy Dry Heave Bug Collection Noam Chomsky Indeed Buh-bye Post-structuralist Gumption Bagatelle Jockstrap Our Lord Jesus Christ Shag Dandruff Tree-hugger Fornicate

The French Intifada

2003-07-17T00:47:00.000-07:00

I have a Jewish-American friend who lives in Belgium and spends a lot of time in France. (I'm keeping his name out of this.) He is a student of languages, and his favorite foreign language to study is French. He's nearly fluent, and when he's in (Dutch-speaking) Antwerp he watches French TV and listens to French radio to keep sharp. Today he's losing his edge. His French skills are on the wane.

Hating and Abusing Art

2003-07-16T00:54:00.000-07:00

Art for its own sake just isn't popular these days. John Derbyshire writes in The Corner: [T]here is a proud philistine faction among conservatives, certainly among NRO readers. Any time I blog about my encounters with high art (encounters of which, be it noted, high art generally gets the better) I get emails from readers telling me that this stuff is for the fairies (you can take that any way

Meeting Dick Gephardt

2003-07-16T00:20:00.000-07:00

Blogger Kris Lofgren got to meet with Dick Gephardt. Kris is far more smitten with Gephardt than I am. I think Gephardt is a cynical politician (like most of the rest of 'em) who will say whatever he's supposed to say to be liked. That said, I do like Gephardt sometimes, I hope he kicks Howard Dean's butt, and it's great that a non-journalist blogger had a chance to actually talk to him.

While You Were Sleeping...

2003-07-16T00:16:00.000-07:00

It's looking pretty bad in Korea. WASHINGTON (AFP) - William Perry, who served as defense secretary under former President Bill Clinton, believes the United States and North Korea could be at war as early as this year. ... "I think we are losing control" of the situation, he said, adding that he believes Pyongyang will soon be testing nuclear warheads and that terrorists could purchase the

Quit Complaining

2003-07-15T00:09:00.000-07:00

Andrew Apostolou demolishes the BBC with a single sentence. We are not going to put Saddam back in power to keep the BBC happy. I have nothing to add.

Infidels

2003-07-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

Pat Robertson prays for God to get rid of the liberal Supreme Court justices. (Via Andrew Sullivan.) At least, unlike Al Qaeda, he does not want the infidels to die. He just wants them to have health problems. Way to be moderate, Pat.

Changes to the Blogroll

2003-07-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

New blogs: Secular Islam (the natterings of an unhappy American Muslim) Beirut Calling (by the op-ed editor of Lebanon's Daily Star.) American Digest Five dead blogs have been removed.

Congrats to Bill Keller

2003-07-14T13:57:00.000-07:00

Bill Keller will be named the new executive editor of The New York Times. I am not as familiar with Keller as some. I do think, however, that he wrote one of the best pieces about Iraq last year, and that piece earned a permalink in the right-hand column of my page under "Essays." (Unfortunately the article is no longer freely available from The New York Times, but you can read a copy of it

Just Say No to John Kerry

2003-07-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

John Kerry on marriage: Marriage is an institution between men and women for the purpose of having children and procreating. That's his excuse for opposing gay marriage. Even though he is married and has no children himself. UPDATE: Fact-checking reader Paul Stein informs me that Kerry does have two daughters from a previous marriage. Thanks, Paul. According to Kerry's argument, though, he

Just Say No to Howard Dean

2003-07-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

Conservative writer Rod Dreher posts in The Corner: Dean's my favorite Democrat, for the same reason he's Karl Rove's. Go, Howard, go! Howard Dean is my least favorite Democrat for the same reason. To almost everyone but his fans, he's obviously unelectable for an obvious reason. If you don't know what that reason is, odds are pretty good that you're a Deanie. (Hint: It has to do with what

We Do Like Our Immigrants

2003-07-14T00:06:00.000-07:00

From The Guardian: America just loves immigration - it's immigrants who aren't popular. As Muslims are now finding out. Oh, give it a rest. I have a (secular liberal) Arab Muslim friend from Syria who moved here last year. And he just loves the place. Ten years ago he fled Syria to Greece. I asked him which country he likes living in better, Greece or the United States. He says he likes

Loud Mail

2003-07-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

A reader named Bill sent the following letter to The New Criterion. jesus the guy that wrote the article about the bbc is really fucked-up they just won 1st place with their website again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!take a look its a great svc and so is it tv news!!!!!!!!!! who the fuck cares what those spies did 50 years ago, its only a tv show!! Whoah there, Jackson. Even if you traded one exclamation

Grinding on in Iraq

2003-07-13T15:42:00.000-07:00

Those who want to withdraw our troops from Iraq (End the Occupation!), along with those who think the whole country is rising against us, might wish to consider the following by Reuel Marc Gerecht. Contrary to so many left-wing and European depictions of the United States under George W. Bush, Americans in general, and military officers in particular, don't like using their power. Americans just

Derb on the Silver Screen

2003-07-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Charles Murtaugh found two great video clips of National Review's John Derbyshire getting his butt kicked by Bruce Lee.

Weekend Reading

2003-07-12T00:16:00.000-07:00

Read Roger L. Simon's The New Intolerance. And read the Comments section, too.

Bath Toys in Boston

2003-07-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

29,000 spilled rubber duckies make their way from the Pacific, to the Arctic, to the Atlantic, and now to Boston. BOSTON - Being thrown from a container ship, drifting for more than a decade, bobbing through three oceans — it's enough to turn a rubber duckie white. A floating flock of the bathtub toys - along with beavers, turtles and frogs - is believed to be washing ashore somewhere along

Pat Robertson Mimics Chirac

2003-07-11T11:17:00.000-07:00

Charles Taylor of Liberia is a warmongering, mass-murdering, psychopathic dictator with ties to Al Qaeda. And Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson loves him. NORFOLK, Va. - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson accused President Bush of "undermining a Christian, Baptist president to bring in Muslim rebels" by asking Liberian President Charles Taylor, recently indicted for war crimes, to step

Time to Clean up Liberia

2003-07-11T01:10:00.000-07:00

Charles Krauthammer says liberal Democrats are only willing to use military force if America's interests are not at stake. Liberals were opposed to the 1991 Gulf War, and also the recent liberation of Iraq. (I was opposed to the first Gulf War, but that's because I was a kid who didn't know any better and who also, like everyone else, had no recent historical experience other than Vietnam to

The Eternal Radical

2003-07-11T00:10:00.000-07:00

Christopher Hitchens has been disowned by the reactionary left. Not that he cares. He has never been a reactionary. He is still, as always, a radical in the marrow of his bones. Even London's new anti-smoking ordinance inspires in him a revolutionary defiance. There is something singularly joyless and severe and boring in this latest edict from our masters. ... It will be interesting to see

Language Police

2003-07-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

"Email" is an English word, so the French government banned it. The word, that is. No, I'm not kidding.

The "Dude" Literary Game

2003-07-10T00:50:00.000-07:00

Ron Rosenbaum wrote a long sprawling essay for the New York Observer about Dude Culture. Included is the Dude, Where's My Car? Literary Game: This was something I devised during a dinner with my friends Virginia and David, although they came up with the best answer. The idea is to see how many great works of literature you can fit into the Dude, Where’s My Car? framework. For instance,

What Happened July 9

2003-07-10T00:09:00.000-07:00

The Iranian regime remains, but for how long? Shrugging off death threats by government paramilitary forces, thousands of Iranian students took to the streets Wednesday night, according to Israel Radio. They called for the country's democratization and death to its extremist leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini. The demonstrations, banned by the regime, came on the fourth anniversary of 1999

Fascism and Democracy in Iraq

2003-07-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

Two leaders in northern Iraqi Kurdistan serve up a reality-check on the so-called "resistance," and remind us that some of the seeds for democracy have already been planted. Here is Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani in the New York Times. (Via the indispensable Andrew Apostolou.) Some day, we Iraqis hope to celebrate an Independence Day like the one Americans have just observed. But for the

Response from an Iranian-American

2003-07-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

Iranian-American Kombiz, who blogs at Facts on the Ground, emails me in response to my open letter to the people of Iran. Dear Michael, I like the idea behind your post to the people of Iran, but I would mention that you should be careful of mixing political causes and maybe assuming too much. I'm not sure if people would get shot at the end of a revolution, if that is the where this thing

A Letter to the People of Iran

2003-07-09T00:27:00.000-07:00

An open letter to the people of Iran. I remember the revolution of 1979. The Shah was deposed, the Ayatollahs seized power, and students in the streets of Tehran shouted “Death to America!” Our embassy staff were kidnapped, and we Americans were terrified. I was nine years old. Most of you in Iran who might read this were not even born. You know better than anyone what the tyranny of

The Puppet May Quit

2003-07-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian "prime minister," says he might step down. This article reveals that, as I suspected, he is and has been a puppet of Yasser Arafat all along. Abbas has been facing strong pressure within his Fatah movement to adopt a tough line on the prisoner releases. In a letter to Arafat, he said he would step down as prime minister unless he gets clear instructions from Fatah

Telling it Like it isn't

2003-07-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Hardly anyone can discuss the Palestinian-Israeli war in plain honest language. Here is the New York Times today. Militants from the radical Palestinian group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a bombing in central Israel that killed a 65-year-old Israeli woman, apparently violating last week's cease-fire pledge. Suicide-bombers are terrorists, not militants. And suicide-bombing does not

Firing Michael Savage

2003-07-08T01:14:00.000-07:00

Radio and TV blowhard Michael Savage has been fired by MSNBC. Here is what he said to a caller. SAVAGE: "Alright, so you're one of those sodomists? Are you a sodomite? " CALLER: "Yes, I am." SAVAGE: "Oh, you're one of the sodomites! You should only get AIDS and die, you pig! How's that? [off-screen crew can be heard shouting "Whoa!"] Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig? You got

Back From LA

2003-07-07T01:03:00.000-07:00

Shelly and I just got back from our trip to Los Angeles where we met up with old friends, the in-laws (my in-laws, her parental units), and attended Roger L. Simon’s book signing and wine-tasting party. Plenty of LA bloggers were there; Matt Welch, Brian Linse, Emmanuel Richard, the Patio Pundit, Armed Liberal, Cathy Siepp, Gerard Van Der Leun. Slate’s own Mickey Kaus showed up as a lurker, but

Jews and Oil

2003-07-07T00:31:00.000-07:00

Patrick Seale at The Nation has bought into the Pat Buchanan view of the world. Nothing is as it seems, we should leave dictators alone, it’s all a big conspiracy, and the Jews are behind it. Mr. Seale lists the Who’s Who of Jewish neoconservatives, and though he doesn’t use the word “cabal,” he might as well. He then cuts to the chase. Concerned to insure Israel's continued regional supremacy

This Vacation Has Been Interrupted...

2003-07-04T00:21:00.000-07:00

...with an unecessary filler post to the blog... I haven't had time to blog anything because I'm enjoying Roger L. Simon's great company, warm hospitality, and fantastic Southern California house (and swimming pool). The book-signing and wine-tasting was a great success, which you can read all about here. I took some pictures of the event on my digital camera, but the USB cable thingy is

Just Say No to Howard Dean

2003-07-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

Josh Chafetz at Oxblog asks what Scoop Jackson Democrats (like me) will do if Howard Dean gets the Democratic nomination. I will vote against him. I'll vote Green or Republican or Libertarian, but I will not vote for Howard Dean during war time. If Dean wants to run for president after the Terror War is over, I'll vote for him then.

Treason

2003-07-01T01:05:00.000-07:00

Richard Cohen reads Ann Coulter's new book Treason so that you don't have to. Here is his review. I am happy to report that Ann Coulter has lost her mind. The evidence for this is her most recent book, "Treason," a nearly unreadable slog through every silly thing anyone on the left has ever said. Coulter conflates dissent with treason, opposition with treason, being wrong with treason, being

Moses Wine Tasting

2003-07-01T00:46:00.000-07:00

Shelly and I are travelling to Los Angeles to attend mystery novelist Roger L. Simon's book-signing and wine-tasting party at Dutton's Books, 11975 San Vicente Blvd, in Brentwood on Wednesday July 2nd at 7:00 pm. Roger has invited five bloggers to serve as bartenders. Myself, Matt Welch, Ken Layne, Charles Johnson, and Brian Linse. If you live in the LA area, I hope you can make it. I just

Bigot Eruption

2003-07-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

The blogosphere may get a new meme, and President Bush better watch out if it takes off. Bigot Eruption. Bush is not a bigot himself, and I'll defend him against the charge. But many in his party are, and they do have a tendency to erupt. Matt Welch and Oliver Willis have started the ball rolling, and I'm happy to give it a push myself.

The Palestinian Legacy

2003-07-01T00:29:00.000-07:00

American bigotry is bad. But it is always wise to keep our perspective. Novelist Cynthia Ozick asks what the Palestinian nation offers the world. History, in Benedetto Croce's formulation, "is about the positive and not the negative." No one can refute the truth that the Palestinians have fashioned a culture peculiarly their own--but one so steeped in the negative as to have been turned into a

Cartoons

2003-06-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

If Iraq became an instant Switzerland, the anti-war doom-mongers would be quiet. But they wouldn't be happy because it would prove them idiots. The only way they can look prescient is if they put the most negative spin possible on everything. Today Donald Rumsfeld compared them to cartoon characters. When a reporter identified the Vietnam War during the briefing as "your classic quagmire,"

Ceasefire, Shmeasefire

2003-06-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

Palestinians are already violating their bogus ceasefire, and the US military is sending two generals to monitor the dismantling of Hamas. Of course, Hamas is not really being dismantled. The generals are there to serve as a reality-check for the fact-resistant.

Total Civilizational Breakdown

2003-06-30T02:25:00.000-07:00

Shelly and I both like end-of-the-world disaster stories. I gave up Stephen King books years ago, but she recently made me read The Stand. I'm glad she did. The deus ex machina ending was grating, but the rest of the book was fantastic. There is a tiny part of me that likes to fantasize about trying to survive after civilization breaks down. It would be a great and meaningful adventure, and I

Fear of Privacy and Freedom

2003-06-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Iran.) is afraid of privacy. Frist said the Supreme Court's decision last week on gay sex threatens to make the home a place where criminality is condoned. The court on Thursday threw out a Texas law that prohibited acts of sodomy between gays in a private home, saying that such a prohibition violates the defendants' privacy rights under the Constitution.

Our Forgotten Colony

2003-06-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

Fox News writes "Liberians Demand U.S. Intervene" as the headline for this story on their front page. (The headline in the actual story is different.) MONROVIA, Liberia - Angry crowds laid the bloody, maimed bodies of children in front of Liberia's heavily guarded U.S. Embassy on Thursday, shouting blame at U.S. Marines and America for failing to protect Monrovia's people from fighting

Liberal Imperialism

2003-06-26T01:25:00.000-07:00

Robert D. Kaplan's brilliant Atlantic Monthly cover story Supremacy by Stealth is not available online (buy the magazine and read it), but the magazine published an online interview with him about it called The Hard Edge of American Values. I bristle at his use of the words "empire" and "imperialism," but Kaplan has never been a person I agree with all the time anyway. I nevertheless think he is

No Big Shocker

2003-06-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

Part of Saddam's nuke program was found in someone's back yard. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The CIA has in its hands the critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology -- parts needed to develop a bomb program -- that were dug up in a back yard in Baghdad, CNN has learned. The parts were unearthed by Iraqi scientist Mahdi Obeidi who had hidden them in his back yard under a rose bush 12

The New Mainstream

2003-06-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

It wasn't long ago that conservatives were uniformly opposed to gay marriage. Even Bill Clinton felt the need to pander to the anti-gay crowd with his bogus and reactionary "Defense of Marriage Act." How times change. Thomas Forsyth emails: I just read your post, and I follow the same view you do. Back in my paleoconservative days, prior to becoming an Econ Major and embracing the

My Mind is Made Up

2003-06-25T00:49:00.000-07:00

Roger L. Simon says he is strongly in favor of gay marriage. A reader posted this in the comments section: The fact that you consider an anti-gay marriage position to be a "horror", even when it is expressed by someone you otherwise respect, betrays a predisposition to a certain way of thinking one may describe as ideological. Am I to believe lots of new information might make you change your

Why "The Nation" is Unreadable

2003-06-25T00:11:00.000-07:00

Andrew Sullivan quotes Katrina Vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, who reveals in two sentences why her magazine is now unreadable and why I let my subscription lapse. (And also why Christopher Hitchens quit as a columnist.) The other day Bush said, 'I would urge the Iranian administration to treat [the protesters] with the utmost of respect.' Okay, but how about treating your own dissidents

I am a Spring Chicken

2003-06-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

Benjamin Gefen asks what planet I was on during the 1960s. I was not on any planet because I was not yet alive. UPDATE: William Terell emails: Maybe it's time all the 'sixties people, right as well as left, woke up to realize that we are now 2+1/2 years into the fourth decade after the 'sixties. Easy enough for me...

If Only...

2003-06-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

Some idiot thinks I'm on Israeli payroll. It just doesn't occur to this person that a "liberal non-Jew" as he calls me might support Israel on his own free will. It must be a conspiracy because there is no other possible explanation. Listen up, Mr. "Akbarrpg." I am still waiting for my first paycheck from Ariel Sharon. And I am quite emphatically not anti-Muslim or anti-Arab. I am

Off the Cliff

2003-06-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

David Brooks in The Weekly Standard says many in the Democratic Party have gone over the cliff. He quotes Bill Moyers. I think this is deliberate, intentional destruction of the United States of America. Yeah, what else to say? Moyers has clearly lost his marbles. Here is David Brooks: It's not just that members of the two parties disagree. It's that the disagreements have recently grown so

Ideology and the Blogosphere

2003-06-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

Is the blogosphere breaking down the old ideologies? Or does it reflect a post-dogmatic culture that had already come into being? Probably a bit of both. At this point, whichever came first (chicken or egg) may not make any difference because each phenomenon reinforces the other. Here is Roger L. Simon: Whether we accept it or not, weblogs and related online essays and news sources have already

The Prejudice of the Doom Mongers

2003-06-23T01:07:00.000-07:00

Mark Steyn went to Iraq and on his way back notes that there is no humanitarian crisis there. Which leads him to the following. There have always been issues on which the differences are so huge that they’re beyond discussion: generally speaking, it’s not worth an American and a European getting into a dinner-party debate over the Israeli/Palestinian question; neither is ever going to change the

A Self-Cancelling Complaint?

2003-06-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

Dr. Frank points to this piece by fiery left-winger Johann Hari. The students of Iran are trying to foment a second Iranian revolution - one in favour of human rights and democracy - and, to my dismay, the very people who should be on their side are more interested in slating George W. Bush... There is a reason the students in Tiananmen Square built a replica of the Statue of Liberty. There is

In a Nutshell

2003-06-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

Roger L. Simon sums up the entire post-Iraq war debate in a single sentence. To complain about the absence of WMDs at this point would be like having liberated Auschwitz during WWII only to grouse that there wasn't any cylon-b in the concentration camp, just dead bodies. The rest is pretty good, too.

The Hole in the Donut

2003-06-20T00:39:00.000-07:00

Mike Silverman quotes James Taranto. As a consequence of this uncertainty about their future, today's Democrats are intellectually stagnant. They are the conservative party--not in the ideological sense, but in the sense of being opposed to change: Leave Social Security alone. Don't cut taxes (but don't raise them either). Roe v. Wade is sacrosanct, and anyone who questions it is unqualified for

Bush's Abdication

2003-06-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

In The New Republic Peter Beinart says the Bush Administration is abdicating America's long-standing responsibilities in Liberia. Learn from England and France, he says. And be more imperialist.

Yesterday's Liberals

2003-06-19T01:16:00.000-07:00

They say what is conservative today was liberal yesterday. That does seem to be the case. Conservative writer John Little of Blogs of War designed this t-shirt. (Click the photo to buy one.) This is just the sort of thing that was all over my radical left college campus in the early 90s. What's next, John? Free love and bong hits?

Iranian Blogs

2003-06-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

John Little at Blogs of War has a great list of Iranian blogs.

Toward the Tipping Point

2003-06-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

Via Instapundit comes this piece from David Warren where he says the Iranian mullahs are on their way out. Last summer, the mullahs came perilously close to losing their turbans, and were reduced to importing Palestinian and Afghan thugs to beat up the student demonstrators, for fear the Persian thugs whom they used to entrust might join the other side. This summer, they have started from that

Revolutions Real and Imagined

2003-06-18T01:18:00.000-07:00

The revolution in Iran is on. Here is Koorosh Afshar in National Review. During the past few nights, we Iranian youth have been agitating - at great risk to our lives - to remove the 24-year-old plague that has stricken our homeland. Our goal is to topple the theocratic regime of the mullahs. Our opponents are barbarian vigilantes - members of Ansaar-e-Hezbollah - who are backed by heavily armed

Israel and the Left

2003-06-17T02:33:00.000-07:00

Regarding my post on anti-Israel bias in the New York Times, Stephen Meyer emails: Clearly you are right. I say 'clearly' as I simply don't get how any other view can be intelligently held. Yet otherwise intelligent people, on the American left and worldwide, "think" otherwise. Anti-Semitism may explain most of the rest of the world holding the view but surely anti-Semitism hasn't informed the

How to Make Peace

2003-06-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Today's required reading is about Jews and Arabs who take a trip to Auschwitz. Read Pilgrim's Progress by Yossi Klein Halevi in The New Republic.

Regime Change

2003-06-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

Michael Ledeen says the mullahcracy in Iran may not last much longer. The tipping point may be near. There is mounting violence against the regime. We are no longer talking about purely peaceful demonstrations. The protesters know they are going to be attacked with guns, clubs, knives, machetes and chains, and they are responding with Molotov cocktails and guns of their own. In some of the

Dispensing with the BS

2003-06-13T16:04:00.000-07:00

It sure didn't take long for the society-wide Mideast reality check to kick in this time. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of this from the left in the near future. Here is Daniel at Reason of Voice. Once again, it's clear that the Palestinians have been offered everything short of shoving the Jews into the sea and their terrorist groups have chosen for them ---- for continued death. I've

The Cratering Times

2003-06-13T00:12:00.000-07:00

The editors of the New York Times are advised to remember the First Rule of Holes. When you're in one, stop digging. The hole becomes a crater with this editorial on the Middle East "road map." As soon as the new Middle East peace initiative was announced, it was clear that violence by its opponents would follow. … The deadliest blows so far have come from Palestinian terrorists. Yesterday,

Vicious Harold Pinter

2003-06-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

Andrew Stuttaford calls British playwright Harold Pinter a "vicious bastard." Here's why. The playwright Harold Pinter last night likened George W Bush's administration to Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, saying the US was charging towards world domination while the American public and Britain's "mass-murdering" prime minister sat back and watched. Pinter, 72, was at the National Theatre in

The Root

2003-06-12T00:55:00.000-07:00

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. - Henry David Thoreau The "roadmap to peace" for Israel and Palestine is a farce. It is the institutionalization of surrender. Israelis are told by the entire world, including President Bush, that they must lie down and let the terrorists kill them. They are told they have no right to defend themselves.

Question Neither Authority Nor Reality

2003-06-12T00:24:00.000-07:00

Egyptian reactionaries have banned The Matrix. CAIRO (AFP) - The Hollywhood science fiction hit movie Matrix Reloaded has been banned in Egypt for threatening to offend traditional religious views on the creation of humankind, the chief censor revealed. The director of artistic censorship, Madkur Thabet, said that "despite its excellent technical level, the film was banned because it deals

Imperialism, Democratic and Otherwise

2003-06-11T00:26:00.000-07:00

On Monday I wrote to Joe Katzman that we need a new word for robust humanitarian intervention, and "colonialism" just doesn't work for me. Joe suggests moral imperialism instead. It's certainly an improvement. The 20th Century round of imperialism was anything but moral. So at least a distinction is made. I still don't like it, though, for two reasons. First, "imperialism" is a dirty word, as

Death of the Left?

2003-06-11T00:11:00.000-07:00

Sean LaFreniere is among the swelling legion of disgruntled liberals. His family gathering last weekend was torched by an argument about Iraq with his hard-left academic relatives. Sean's conclusion: The Left is Dead. Rest in peace. He even provides a tombstone. (Sean: The left won't be dead for long. We'll be the new left majority soon enough.)

Hate Mail

2003-06-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I said I wanted to put a stop to African genocide. Today I took a stand against John Ashcroft, Iraqi fascism, and anti-Semitism. All of which apparently prompted this letter titled "Hate Mail." i am going to delete you site from my computer. we don't share any common values. good luck and good bye. april chu at laguna beach, california We don't share any common values at all?

Ashcroft Shrugs

2003-06-10T01:14:00.000-07:00

Richard Cohen on our Attorney General: Ashcroft has a serious attitude problem. That attitude was on display when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee. The AG was asked about a report from his own inspector general criticizing the way in which the Justice Department had treated 762 illegal immigrants locked up and detained after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. None of them --

Constructive Criticism

2003-06-10T01:02:00.000-07:00

Attacks on US soldiers are increasing in Iraq. Army commanders say the attacks are locally planned and attribute them to "remnants" of the Baath Party and other supporters of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. While they describe the attacks as the work of a single resistance group, they suspect that some armed fighters may be moving from city to city, looking for vulnerable targets and

A Second Holocaust?

2003-06-10T00:33:00.000-07:00

About ten years ago I went through a phase where I read a pile of books about the Holocaust. Soon enough I saw ominous signs of a second Holocaust everywhere. It wore off, of course, and I felt silly for being so paranoid. I later decided the odds of such a singular evil happening again were vanishingly close to zero. How dismaying, then, to read this piece by Ron Rosenbaum and not disagree with

Objective Pro-Fascism

2003-06-10T00:31:00.000-07:00

Via Joe Katzman and Beautiful Horizons comes this nasty story from Human Rights Watch. On May 8, Attorney General John Ashcroft filed an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief for the defense in a civil case alleging that the oil company Unocal was complicit in forced labor and other abuses committed by the Burmese military during the construction of the Yadana gas pipeline. The case, John

No New Colonialism

2003-06-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

Joe Katzman has posted another extensive essay about the Congo. He explains why any international effort to stop genocide is likely to fail unless the operational model is scrapped and replaced with a much older one. I agree with what he says needs to be done, but I don't like the word used to describe it. He's resurrecting the word "colonialism" here, and it troubles me. I don't see how

Abbas Shows His Colors

2003-06-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

There will be no peace in Israel and the West Bank any time soon. The new "prime minister" refuses to fight terrorism. RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinian prime minister said Monday he will not use force against militant groups under any circumstances, despite their stated determination to derail a U.S.-backed peace plan with attacks on Israelis, including two weekend shootings that killed

The Globalization of Chaos

2003-06-06T01:25:00.000-07:00

Africa is Hell. BUNIA, Democratic Republic of the Congo -- May was another brutal month for the residents of Bunia. People were terrorized and slaughtered, first by fighters from the majority Lendu ethnic group and then by members of the Hema minority who drove the Lendu out. "They beat the refugees, shot at them," said Florent, an eyewitness to some of the violence. "And then they picked out