Between the Issues

Talking about the bloody absurdity of any war is depressing. Yet, there is no way to talk about politics in the Middle East without confronting the hideous and horrifying reality of the war. It looks like the wasting away of peace in this region of the world is accompanied by a sense of impending catastrophe.…

While I am not a historical determinist, I believe that history moves in ways that are broadly dialectical. Political currents that traverse one direction often change course and move in an opposite one, often eluding precise predictions. Mid-twentieth-century fascism reflected what was arguably the nadir of conduct in the entire career of humankind. Auschwitz was…

To start at the beginning, in which all of Trump’s hatreds are harnessed and become the deeply sick raison d’etre of Republicans everywhere. Here, nothing needs to be added: everything that has to be known about them was vouchsafed to us this week by the worthless specimen of cowardice Jodi Ernst, who should be in…

May 25th marked the hundredth anniversary of the Scopes Trial. On that day in 1925, a Tennessee science teacher, John Scopes, was indicted and convicted for teaching evolution. Recognizing that the issues that gave rise to the Trial remain stridently relevant today, I want to use this centenary occasion to take a deeper look. The…

The early days of Donald Trump’s presidency have featured a series of clashes with allies and other states. The first real squall between Trump and an ally was the notably ‘fiery’ dialogue with the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen regarding the acquisition / hostile takeover of Greenland, a contretemps that was described by senior European…

My Rationale for Paying Tribute to Leaders  Over the years, I have paid tribute in differing ways to national and global leaders. Even as I wrote about these leaders, I posed to myself the question why I dared write about people who were so important and well known that it did not need me to…

Like a dam bursting, it has finally happened: Donald Trump is called what he assuredly is – a fascist. The press has skirted around using the term to describe Trump, as it has danced around a robust depiction of Trump as a deranged, severely disturbed, mentally ill man. Donald Trump is a flagrant liar, a…

“We have eight months to save our Republic,” so warned Elizabeth Cheney, noted renegade Republican. Noteworthy indeed! Chaney is the loyal daughter of perhaps the least likely vice president in American history to be singled out as a champion of democracy this side of Andrew Johnson (and that’s not being entirely fair to Johnson). And…

The Palestinian reconciliation agreement signed in Beijing on 22 July[1] did not attract much attention. It is easy to understand why. Many agreements like it have been signed between Fatah and Hamas since the 1980s and have not been implemented. What is different about this agreement? The difference does not lie in the prospects for…

Every age needs heroes. Even more so an age dominated by new wars and new dangers. Heroes are usually handsome, courageous and committed to the defense of the weak, especially innocents whose lives are being threatened for no good reason. Paul Watson, who has been apprehended in Greenland in relation to a Red Notice issued…