War

In my own name only…

Why this building, there? Leaving aside some melodrama – “insane,” “looming horror,” “surrender” – that question sums up the reaction to Cordoba House, a.k.a. “The Ground Zero Mosque,” a project of the the Cordoba Initiative (CI) that last week added

Posted in International Relations, Religion, War Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell in Manhattan

I don’t see a good reason to be against the building of a mosque/cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero. In fact, the arguments in favor sound quite reasonable to me.  But, then again, I don’t hate and fear Islam. 

Posted in Politics, War Tagged with: , , , ,

Tales from the Geopolitical Crypt: Seven Deadly Scenarios by Andrew Krepinevich

Seven Deadly Scenarios can be read and enjoyed almost as a collection of near future science fiction stories, though unlike sci-fi writers, who typically unveil the imagined course of future events elliptically, piece by piece, thus to keep the reader

Posted in Books, Future History, War Tagged with: ,

If At First You Don’t Succeed… – WORLD WAR ONE – a Short History by Norman Stone

The point was supposed to have been progress, or loyalty, or self-defense, or empire, or enlightenment, or democracy, or honor, or justice, but the arc of modern history bends toward irony.

Posted in Books, Featured, History, War Tagged with: ,

Down in the Dungeon with the Torture Trolls (warning: rated J for Japanese graphic violence)

We’re all KSM on this topic – undergoing a harsh interrogation completely beyond our control, unsure of where it could be heading, wondering whether our very political and moral lives are at stake. We’re all Jay Bybee, too, asking ourselves the same questions, from the perspective of the master, not the slave, dreadfully responsible no matter what we do, morally endangered by our relative safety, in thrall to our very freedom to choose.

Posted in Politics, The Exception, Torture Tagged with: ,