Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
“Mediscare”: the US politics of fear
The debate over Medicare shows that both Republicans and Democrats now rely on panic over principle. Read my spiked article in full here.
The “Mediscare” election: both parties are running on fear
Last week the Democrats scored an upset victory in a special election in New York’s 26th district, which encompasses the upstate territory between Buffalo and Rochester. Republicans were supposed to be on the upswing since the midterm elections held just six months ago, and the seat has been Republican since the 1960s. But Democrat Kathy […]
The killing of bin Laden and the American response
The reaction in America to the news that Osama bin Laden was killed by US commandos is not what it seems from the media reports. The TV images have focused on the groups of people waving flags and shouting “USA-USA-USA” in Times Square in New York and in front of the White House in Washington. It is presented […]
The Birthers
I was in a diner in Scranton, Pennsylvania last night, when an older man in the booth two down from ours was speaking somewhat loudly to a woman who I guessed was his daughter. “I’ve decided to challenge his citizenship,” he said, with “his” referring to President Obama’s. “But I know it comes with risks. When I do, […]
US budget showdown: the politics of pantomime
For all the attempts to talk up the budget clash as a great historical drama, in truth it revealed the pathetic state of American politics. Read my spiked article in full here.
The problem with “immaculate intervention”
George Friedman, chief executive of STRATFOR, the geopolitical intelligence company, highlights the illogic of humanitarian wars in an article for Real Clear World. Friedman notes how defenders of humanitarian wars claim to be neutral, but they are not: The doctrine [of humanitarian war] becomes less coherent in a civil war in which one side is winning and […]
Libya: moral blackmail trumps political debate
In his address to the nation, Obama cynically elevated the moral imperative over ‘nasty’ political criticisms. Read my spiked article in full here.
On Obama’s Libya speech: moral blackmail doesn’t trump politics
President Obama’s address to the nation on Libya last night was lengthy, but it did not really put to rest the many questions that have been raised about the military intervention in that country. We are still not clear about the mission and the endgame, why Congress was not allowed to vote on it, and […]
The “Arab context” argument
Marc Lynch, professor at George Washington University and blogger for Foreign Policy, is one of the more thoughtful commentators. He has expressed reservations about the West’s intervention in Libya, but ultimately supports it. In his post today, Lynch highlights the “Arab context”, which he says “is essential for understanding the logic and stakes of the intervention”: Libya […]
Benghazi billboard says it all
Apparently, not every Libyan rebel was asking the West to send in its military.