While the general, who commanded all U.S. forces from 2008 to 2010, said he supports a unified country, he added the U.S. government needs to consider whether Iraq has already been divided into three sectors by the sectarian violence —…
Noted & Quoted
Richard Fontaine: It’s Time to Start Talking About American Exceptionalism Again – War on the Rocks
Revitalizing American exceptionalism begins with the unique role the United States plays in shaping and upholding international order. Since the end of the Second World War, the United States has led allies and partners in maintaining a global order aimed…
Posted in Neo-Imperialism, Noted & Quoted
Never-before-seen galaxy spotted orbiting the Milky Way – New Scientist
About four dozen known galaxies orbit our own. The largest in terms of breadth is the Sagittarius dwarf, discovered in 1994 – but it’s big only because our galaxy’s gravity is ripping it apart. The next two largest are the…
Posted in Noted & Quoted, Science
Philip Klein: Conservatives engage in wishful thinking on channeling Trumpism – Washington Examiner
Michael Needham of Heritage Action has argued that a conservative populism – one that attacks the way the federal government works for the well-connected – could appeal to Trump voters. But Trump ran in Iowa as a supporter of ethanol…
Posted in Noted & Quoted, Politics
Donald Trump’s insincere process arguments – Washington Examiner
The presidential nomination process is the weakest part of our political system and, not coincidentally, the only one not addressed by the Framers of the Constitution.None of the successive reforms made since 1968 has produced a perfect system, and in…
Posted in Noted & Quoted, Politics
Sean Trende: The Real Reason Trump Can’t Break the GOP – RealClearPolitics
…[P]robably the greatest example of party durability is seen by the Democrats, who, in 1866, found themselves on the wrong side of the Civil War. That is, as we dryly noted when I practiced law, a bad fact. The party…
Posted in Noted & Quoted, Politics
Shadi Hamid: Everyone says the Libya intervention was a failure. They’re wrong. – Vox
Critics erroneously compare Libya today to any number of false ideals, but this is not the correct way to evaluate the success or failure of the intervention. To do that, we should compare Libya today to what Libya would have…
Posted in Neo-Imperialism, Noted & Quoted
EJ Dionne: This time it really is the end of Trump. Really. – The Washington Post
You could look at the week as an aberration that Trump, the magician, will somehow surmount. In fact, these episodes tumbling one upon the other ratify what Trump skeptics said all along: that he is utterly unprepared to be a…
Benjamin Wallace-Wells: Sanders, Trump, and the Rise of the Non-Voters – The New Yorker
One story that you could tell about the second half of the Obama Presidency is that the politics of the country have been pushed along by movements—Occupy, Black Lives Matter, the Tea Party—that are not basically about the contest between…
Posted in Noted & Quoted, Politics