Category: Foreign Policy

Tortured logic (a letter/editorial submission)

 For the sake of argument, let’s suppose torture works… For the sake of argument, let’s also suppose that 9/11 was inevitable.  Let’s suppose that it wasn’t a circus of errors and missed opportunities and hot pursuits that were allowed to grow cold.  Let’s suppose that the CIA and the FBI were a model of harmonious …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2009/04/27/tortured-logic/

Personal reflections

 My pastor John, methinks, probably wonders if I too often connect disparate ideas and events by the thinnest of threads.  There is an old tradition in the Middle East regarding when the feasts of Ramadan begin and end; as long as there is enough daylight to discern between a black and white thread, fasting must continue.  Once they …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2009/03/14/personal-reflections/

All along the watchtower

 Having just finished a book that extols the virtue of harmonizing right-wing elements of Protestant and Roman Catholic Christianity (see http://tinyurl.com/b3levz and http://tinyurl.com/ahashg), I found the following Fisk commentary on papal perspective most interesting.  And more than a bit alarming…  http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-examine-the-popes-words-and-theres-only-one-thing-to-conclude-1634266.html and/or  ttp://tinyurl.com/avwuz3  Fisk’s last paragraph And what do I make of all this? Well, I don’t think the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2009/02/28/all-along-the-watchtower/

A question

 Something I have not seen or heard discussed during the rape of Gaza or its prologue… Haven’t there been all kinds of funds and research expended on anti-missile technologies?  Weren’t American systems installed in Israel?  Why, after years of harassment by the pea-shooters of Hamas, and the rockets of Hezbollah and Saddam before them, hasn’t …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2009/01/24/a-question/

1 of 2: Katyusha, Katyusha

 Interesting poem by Sean O’Brien, written in response to the latest phase of conflict between Israel and Hamas:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/02/katyusha-gaza-israel-poem-sean-obrien  …about the poem:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/02/poet-sean-obrien-writes-gaza-poem And, in an op-ed piece titled “Inheriting Bush’s blinkers” by Ali Abunimah (co-founder of “The Electronic Intifada” and author of “One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse”), the writer suggests …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2009/01/02/1-of-2-katyusha-katyusha/

The Brainwashington Post

 Posted 1/1/2009 3:59:06 PM in response to “Hard Truths About the Conflict” by Robert J. Lieber, a professor of government and international affairs at Georgetown University, is most recently the author of “The American Era: Power and Strategy for the 21st Century.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/31/AR2008123102773.html?hpid=opinionsbox1 Such precision! The splattered brains and entrails of only 1 in 5 …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2009/01/01/the-brainwashington-post/

Gaza primer

 Here’s a good overview of what’s going on in Gaza: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/27/israelandthepalestinians-terrorism  My only beef with the article is that it doesn’t discuss the inside-Israel, wag-the-dog political dimensions of this latest round of US-sanctioned death and misery for Palestinians.  Is this just pre-election posturing to show Israelis that the current regime is as macho/muscular as Faux …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2008/12/28/gaza-primer/