Archive for the ‘opinion’ Category

After the Games, Tibet

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

The Chinese leadership and the Tibetan government in exile have delicately discussed a possible visit by the Dalai Lama to China, nominally to commemorate the victims of the earthquake in Sichuan Province in May. That would be the first meeting between the Dalai Lama and Chinese leaders in more than ...

Will Russia get away with it?

Monday, August 11th, 2008

Not that I ever agree with Bill Kristol - but I am glad he highlighted what I saw as one of the most pathetic aspects of Bush's Russia diplomacy failures. Georgia is the Republic with the third highest number of troops in Iraq - after Britain (2,000). So, while they ...

Thomas Friedman: 9/11 and 4/11

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

What doesn't the Bush crowd get? It's this: We don't have a "gasoline price problem." We have an addiction problem. We are addicted to dirty fossil fuels, and this addiction is driving a whole set of toxic trends that are harming our nation and world in many different ways. It ...

NYT Lock and Load - Supreme Court Ruling on Gun Rights

Friday, June 27th, 2008

That last part is the final indignity of the decision: when the justices go to work at the Supreme Court, guns will still be banned. When most Americans show up at their own jobs, they will not have that protection. This audaciously harmful decision, which hands the far right ...

How Lies Live and Grow in the Brain

Friday, June 27th, 2008

An interesting and timely op-ed piece in the Times covers a phenomenon, known as source amnesia, can also lead people to forget whether a statement is true. Even when a lie is presented with a disclaimer, people often later remember it as true. With time, this misremembering only gets ...

Essay - Doctor Recalls Abortion Complications Before Roe v. Wade

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

It is important to remember that Roe v. Wade did not mean that abortions could be performed. They have always been done, dating from ancient Greek days. What Roe said was that ending a pregnancy could be carried out by medical personnel, in a medically accepted setting, thus conferring ...

Clinton Campaign Done in By Black Voters

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

This will be history's verdict: in the end, the Clintons were defeated not by Republicans, but by African-American Democrats. How wonderful. How poignant. In the end, the karma gets you. Maybe it had to be this way. But this final coup de grace against these awful, hollow, cynical people is ...

Jimmy Carter: Pariah Diplomacy

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Through more official consultations with these outlawed leaders, it may yet be possible to revive and expedite the stalemated peace talks between Israel and its neighbors. In the Middle East, as in Nepal, the path to peace lies in negotiation, not in isolation.Read the full story

Steve Weissman: Tibet and the Games Nations Play

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

"The Government of the United States has borne in mind the fact that the Chinese Government has long claimed suzerainty over Tibet and that the Chinese Constitution lists Tibet among other areas constituting the territory of the Republic of China," the State Department declared in 1943. "This Government has at ...

We Don’t Know This Sen. Joe

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

Rather than building the bridges The Day expected when it endorsed Sen. Lieberman, he appears busy burning bridges with the party of which he is allegedly still a member. Perhaps the senator is positioning himself for a top cabinet post in a McCain presidency. But if the Democrats prevail, and ...