“It’s a Shame”
While calling her words “offensive,” Barack Obama today offered more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger commentary on the retirement of Helen Thomas: The comments were offensive. It’s a shame because Helen was...
View ArticleGoing the Distance in Afghanistan
A popular impression seems to be building that the Marine offensive into Marja, a center of narco-traffickers and the Taliban in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, has already failed. In truth, as C.J....
View ArticleOur Best Ally in Afghanistan: the Taliban
The Washington Post has a pair of stories that illuminate both the challenges and the potential in the fight against the Taliban. First the good news: in one part of Daikundi province in southern...
View ArticleDon’t Let Afghanistan Distract from Iraq
This Los Angeles Times article encapsulates many of the concerns I had about Iraq during my last visit a couple of months ago. Correspondent Ned Parker writes: The Iraqis describe U.S. Embassy...
View ArticleWhere Is Mahmoud Abbas’s Bir Zeit Speech?
As Jen notes, Elliott Abrams identified the critical issue in the “peace process” — the character of the Palestinian state, not simply its borders. Israel — having withdrawn completely from Lebanon and...
View ArticleRival Palestinian Governments Abusing Their Own People — Again
Israel is constantly accused of turning Gaza into “one big prison” — and never mind the fact that Egypt, which also borders Gaza, sharply restricts the number of Palestinians allowed to transit its...
View ArticleThe Media Disinfectant
In his column in Politico today, Roger Simon writes this: Chuck Todd, political director and chief White House correspondent for NBC News, who was not part of Journolist, told me this: “I am sure Ezra...
View ArticleObamaCare Bending Up the Cost Curve
During his press conference on Friday, Jake Tapper, ABC’s excellent senior White House correspondent, asked President Obama about a new CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) report that...
View ArticleThe Afghan Study Group Opines
Something called the Afghan Study Group has produced a report on “A New Way Forward in Afghanistan.” A quick glance at the list of signatories shows a group of individuals who are not exactly notable...
View ArticleWoodward’s Forgettable Writings
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran my review of Bob Woodward’s latest epic of insiderdom. Since then, I have received some interesting e-mails from informed readers who make a few points that I...
View ArticleShift in Momentum in Afghanistan
I am soon heading to Afghanistan to see for myself how the war effort is progressing, but in the meantime I note several news accounts that give a sense of cautious optimism. That doesn’t include the...
View ArticleNPR: Bringing Us Together
It is not easy to get Sarah Palin and the Daily Beast on the same side of an issue. But both are aghast at NPR’s firing of Juan Williams. Palin tweeted: “NPR defends 1st Amendment Right, but will fire...
View ArticleReassessing the Bush Presidency
Earlier this week, I was in Dallas to participate in events surrounding the groundbreaking of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, which will include his library and policy institute. I found the...
View ArticleA Refreshing Change
It’s too early to declare a trend. But the near-simultaneous publication of calls for an Arab gesture toward Israel from two unlikely sources — president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations...
View ArticleFake Palestinian Diplomacy No Substitute for Actual Negotiations
The notion that the chief obstacle to peace in the Middle East is an Israeli unwillingness to make the sacrifices necessary for an agreement (settlements and Jerusalem) is a familiar theme in...
View ArticleCongratulating Obama
During President Obama’s press conference yesterday, ABC’s Jake Tapper said this: I have a couple of questions about “don’t ask/don’t tell.” First of all, congratulations. What was your conversation...
View ArticleAnother NPR Hit Piece on Israel
Never mind Juan Williams: What really gets me about National Public Radio is the way it manages to cover Israel in a manner more reminiscent of Tishreen‘s or Al Jazeera’s style than that of an American...
View ArticleBringing Afghans Over to the Coalition Side, One Tribe at a Time
There has been much loose talk about the possibility of reaching a high-level peace deal with the Taliban. No such effort is likely to succeed, at least not in the short run, because the Taliban do not...
View ArticleSPJ Executive Committee Recommends Renaming Helen Thomas Award
Yesterday, the Society of Professional Journalists’ executive committee voted in favor of renaming the Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement. But the decision isn’t yet binding — it still has to...
View ArticlePro-Mubarak Demonstrators Attack Reporters
Pro-Mubarak protesters in Egypt may have been following government instructions when they attacked members of the media today, according to the Jerusalem Post. Journalists from Sweden and Israel have...
View Article
