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Category Archives: Foreign Affairs

Iraq redux?

I prefer to stay away from conspiracy theories, and I admit that, though I have expressed a lot of disappointment with Obama, I've held on to a belief that he is qualitatively different than Bush. I have, in short, a tough time accepting that he, like Bush, would lie us into war, but alas I […]

Our guys vote right on Syria

This is not my “good news” post of the week, since it's weak tea, good news wise, but it is good news for the people of this state and this Congressional District that Chris Murphy voted against the Syria misadventure, and Joe Courtney has voiced his opposition. For anyone looking for an education on this […]

Who cares what John McCain thinks?

Depending on how you look at it, I am either blessed or cursed by the fact that I get three physical newspapers a day. This morning, two of them, the Day (too lazy to get a link) and the Times headlined the surprising fact that John McCain is backing Obama’s big mistake. This raises a […]

Where is this going?

A few weeks ago I noted in my good news feature that Obama did not appear anxious to get himself involved in Syria. That was then, and this is now, and all I can say is that I was acting on the basis of the intelligence I had then. The monumental hypocrisy of our insistence […]

We really have to teach the British about 21st century democracy

How quaint. In England the legislative body still actually has a say in whether the country goes to war. Where do they get such ideas? Well, maybe it’s not surprising in a country that has palace guards that wear silly hats. They really have a lot to learn about democracy from the former colonies.

You reap what you sow

To the surprise of absolutely no one, it turns out that the CIA did indeed depose democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq back in 1953. The proximate cause of this action was Mossaddeq’s nationalization of the country’s oil assets, which infuriated the U.S. and Britain. For a few years it worked. Our puppet Shah […]

Cheers for Chris Murphy

My wife has often remarked that while Elizabeth Warren is getting some mostly deserved attention for her progressive views, our own Chris Murphy is every bit her equal, something he’s recently proven by “no” vote on a proposed resolution to authorized President Obama to arm the Syrian rebels. From Chris’s email about the subject: Last […]

A storm is threatening

It’s just a shot away: A Hungarian far-right politician urged the government to draw up lists of Jews who pose a “national security risk”, stirring outrage among Jewish leaders who saw echoes of fascist policies that led to the Holocaust. Marton Gyongyosi, a leader of Hungary’s third-strongest political party Jobbik, said the list was necessary […]

Can’t happen here, cause it already has

We learn in this morning’s New York Times that inequality is growing in North Korea, further proof of the failure of their system. DANDONG, China — On her weekly shopping trips to downtown Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, a 52-year-old pig farmer who gave her name as Mrs. Kim tries to ignore the dusting […]

Hey Paul, over here!

Paul Krugman, perceptive as always: Just a quick note: one thing I don’t think has been sufficiently emphasized as we stare a euro disaster in the face is the amount of damage this will do to the overall European political landscape. Across most of the periphery, both sides of the usual political divide have been […]