Category Archives: Foreign Policy

The UN Is Destroying Kosovo

November 7, 2008 – 8:06 pm

It amazes me that American liberals trust the U.N. to do a good job managing international crisises and other countries, but distrust the United States when it tries to do the same. It amazes me because the U.N. is an incredibly incompetent organization. Liberals are horrified by the perceived incompetency of the Bush administration. Yet [...]

By Joe Martin | Tagged | Comments (0)

Iran’s Fear of Low Oil Prices

October 15, 2008 – 4:21 pm

This is good news:

The price of crude oil has hit an 8 month low, dipping to just under $90 a barrel. The decrease in price is being attributed to the global financial slowdown, which analysts believe will lead to a reduction in the consumption of gas. The decline in price should come as [...]

By Joe Martin | Also posted in Energy | Comments (0)

War is over. We won.

July 14, 2008 – 9:35 pm

Michael Yon thinks that [The Surge worked -- and we won].

The war continues to abate in Iraq. Violence is still present, but, of course, Iraq was a relatively violent place long before Coalition forces moved in. I would go so far as to say that barring any major and unexpected developments (like an [...]

By Joe Martin | Tagged , | Comments (0)

How the Arab World Thinks

February 24, 2008 – 9:57 am

Barack Obama wants to restore America’s image around the world. But how does the rest of the world view Barack Obama? I read an interesting commentary on that a few days ago. I’ve highlighted what I found interesting, but you should really read the whole thing.

The Arabs and Obama:

That’s an interesting way to [...]

By Joe Martin | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Support the Troops: Bring Them Home

February 18, 2008 – 8:32 am

Driving to church on Saturday, for my daughter’s dedication service, I passed a car with an anti-war bumper sticker. Of course. This is Madison, WI after all. It said: “Support the Troops. Bring Them Home”. It’s a nice sentiment. But is it actually shared by the troops themselves?

Occasionally, I have my doubts. This interview from [...]

By Joe Martin | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Quoted for truth

February 10, 2008 – 10:29 pm

One of The Economist’s recent blog entries reminds me of why I like the magazine as much as I do, notwithstanding its faults. Can you see any mainstream American newspaper making this comparison?

“IMAGINE Nazi rule in Germany surviving for decades, with Hitler undefeated in war and succeeded on his death in the [...]

By Adam Volle | Also posted in Culture, Philosophy | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Andy Olmsted

January 13, 2008 – 10:04 pm

The hardest thing I ever had to read was the “goodbye” that I wrote for my grandfather’s funeral. This was the second hardest.

Obsidian Wings: Andy Olmsted:

Andrew Olmsted, who also posted here as G’Kar, was killed yesterday in Iraq. Andy gave me a post to publish in the event of his death; the last [...]

By Joe Martin | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Fear Chinese imports

December 3, 2007 – 4:35 am

Well, the Chinese have stopped even pretending concern for the welfare of the foreign peoples to whom they export. As if shipping potentially hazardous tires, dolls, wooden art sets, and even faulty fortune cookies wasn’t enough, now they’re selling people missiles.

But Saudi Arabia, a country so renowned for being concerned with safety that it [...]

By Adam Volle | Also posted in Government, Humor, Philosophy | Tagged , | Comments (0)

What Gen. Musharraf Should’ve Said

November 8, 2007 – 8:07 am

President Bush: “General Musharraf, you can’t be the president and the head of the military at the same time.”*

General Musharraf: “Aren’t you?”

President Bush: “…Uh… Well…. Hell. Yeah.”

By Adam Volle | Also posted in Government, Humor, Politics | Comments (0)

Waterboarding is Torture

October 30, 2007 – 9:56 pm

I have to admit that I’ve been on the fence for a while about whether or not waterboarding constitutes true torture. Mainly, I was ignorant about what waterboarding really was. And I was blissfully ignorant. I passed up many opportunities to find out what it really was.

This morning, my ignorance ended and my certainty began. [...]

By Joe Martin | Also posted in Philosophy | Tagged , | Comments (0)