I suppose this isn’t particularly outrageous coming from the woman who said her only regret about Tim McVeigh is that he didn’t pick the New York Times building as his target. No, I think this is more than a difference in emphasis, as he claims. I think the larger point is, this is, you . . . → Read More: Coulter on Clarke: it’s about racism, not security

Former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, the predecessor to Condi Rice, has an article in the current issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, the house organ of the Council on Foreign relations. His basic thesis is this: although we (the US) have more power than at any point in our history, we have less . . . → Read More: The Rodney Dangerfield of superpowers

Someone told me a joke about a guy named Leon who was always name-dropping when he was drinking in a bar with his buddy, Al. Leon said he knew the president, he knew Dick Butkus, he knew Jayne Mansfield, he knew Frank Sinatra, he knew everyone. Al took it all with a grain of . . . → Read More: Al Qaida leaders are all named Leon

to Kerry by picking up a major endorsement from a totally unexpected quarter. Colourful US boxing promoter Don King has thrown himself into the political arena by lending his voice to a Republican internet “game” attacking Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, the Republican National Committee announced.

The game, found on the web at www.gop.com/kerryvskerry, . . . → Read More: Bush, if that’s his real name, lands a body blow

Ukraine has either misplaced several hundred surface-to-air missiles or really needs to upgrade its office equipment. The missiles entered service with the Soviet air defense troops in 1957. Able to shoot down targets at altitudes up to 12 1/2 miles, they have been sold to a large number of nations around the world.

. . . → Read More: Fire Sale

in connection with Asia Times Online’s coverage of Pakistan and Afghanistan. He’s been based in Baghdad for almost a year now, and has an article on daily life in that city in the current issue of Reason magazine. It isn’t the good news the Pentagon wants delivered to the local stations that ran the . . . → Read More: Nir Rosen is one of the correspondents I lauded

The organization representing most of the Caribbean nations is refusing to recognize Haiti’s new government, despite what some members described as “enormous pressure” from the US, because it distrusts the account of ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s departure from the island. It’s one of those situations which might have arisen anyway, but the administration’s . . . → Read More: Fallout

Walter Pincus and Dana Milbank have a good article in today’s Washington Post regarding the contradictory assaults on Richard Clarke from Bush — if that’s his real name — administration officials, including Rice, and on Rice’s refusal to testify before the 911 commission under oath either publicly or privately. This week’s testimony and media . . . → Read More: Condi’s skirts explode into flames

The Pentagon’s inspector general says early contracts handed out for services in Iraq weren’t monitored as closely as they might have been, which is to say in many cases, not at all. The March 18 report, which reviewed 24 contracts worth nearly $123 million – a small percentage of the tens of billions of . . . → Read More: Money for nothing

Media Life magazine has a blurb on the recently released “State of the News Media” report from the Project for Excellence in Journalism. The perception of traditional daily newspapers and why they’re slowly sinking is that they’re serious and therefore dull, making them a real turnoff to an increasingly attention-deficit society.

But what if . . . → Read More: I hadn’t realized this was in question