Today the US House defeated two resolutions on the war on Libya. The first one, to authorize Obama to conduct the war for a year, failed overwhelmingly. The second one, sold as a war limitation measure, actually authorized most of the activities currently being waged...
This week's news of a resolution from senior Senators to permit military operations in Libya for one year was met with muddled reaction in Congress. The splits within both parties have been preventing clear assertions or definitive action going forward. Today's WSJ...
News yesterday that Israel is finally allowing building materials into Gaza, which has been deprived of them since Operation Cast Lead reduced much the infrastructure to rubble, was good to hear, but I'm still left slightly skeptical. First of all, it's limited:...
As harsh crackdowns on protests continue in Syria, and as allegedly forced pro-Assad rallies have been orchestrated by the regime, some European countries have been pressing the Assad regime with additional sanctions. This has yet to prove effective in stopping...
The attempt on the part of congressional leaders to obstruct growing discontent with Obama's war in Libya by jumping the gun (so to speak) and approving the war without even having been formally asked to approve it brings with it a whole new host of questions. First...
During the Bush years, we constantly heard how escalating violence was just Ba'athist or al-Qaeda "dead-enders" mounting their last desperate attempt to crush Democracy. This was proof America's initial occupation or the "surge" was working, Rumsfeld et al said, so we...
In a rather surprising article over at Reason, Shikha Dalmia writes not only that oil is not a driving force in the U.S. intervention in Libya, but that it doesn't even drive our broader Middle East policy. Indeed, it is a "tired saw invoked by U.S. critics." Dalmia...
In my report on the incentive for America's ruling parties to circumvent accountability and the rule of law by conducting wars in secret, technological advances that enable such choices were front and center. Drones and other unmanned, remote-controlled aircraft seem...
Obama will make a public decision on an initial draw-down of troops in Afghanistan in the next few weeks. On one end, we have Defense Secretary Gates, General Petraeus, and - officially now - the military as a whole, all pressuring Obama to maintain the surge level of...
In my recent interview on the Alyona Show, Alyona mentioned that American oil companies didn't necessarily get the biggest share in oil after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Well... New York Times: When Iraq auctioned rights to rebuild and expand its oil industry two years...
