Friday, March 25, 2005
Good God, this is a Great Column!!
From EJ Dionne, of course - A Thin View of 'Life' (washingtonpost.com):
From EJ Dionne, of course - A Thin View of 'Life' (washingtonpost.com):
- What does it mean to be pro-life? As far as I can tell, most of those who would keep Schiavo alive favor the death penalty. Most favored allowing the assault weapons ban to expire and oppose other forms of gun control. The president makes an excellent point when he says we 'ought to err on the side of life.' It's a shame how rarely that principle is put into practice.
Monday, March 21, 2005
A Good Win
Team Bush came away with a key victory lately, when the EU conceded that lifting the arms embargo against China might not be such a good idea after all. Maybe the decision was due to the immense storm of executive and legislative pressure against the move leaving an EU envoy "pummelled." Or China's promise to attack Taiwan if it made any moves hinting at independence might have been a factor.
This is, of course, good news. EU policy on this, led by the usual suspect, Jacques Chirac, was deeply irresponsible (but what does one expect of the French anyway). As Tom Friedman sagely put it, it represented the distasteful image of pacifists selling arms - arms likely to be used to drive US forces away from Taiwan and to subdue the island.
China seems more intent on bludgeoning the Taiwanese into fearful submission than wooing them with its enchanting market and their shared culture. This is one of the more grievous geopolitical mistakes being made today, but it may take less time to construct another Great Wall than to persuade Beijing that its policy is deeply counterproductive. The EU might play a role to that end. Or it could just whore itself to sell Airbuses. Stay tuned - the embargo issue will resurface again.
Team Bush came away with a key victory lately, when the EU conceded that lifting the arms embargo against China might not be such a good idea after all. Maybe the decision was due to the immense storm of executive and legislative pressure against the move leaving an EU envoy "pummelled." Or China's promise to attack Taiwan if it made any moves hinting at independence might have been a factor.
This is, of course, good news. EU policy on this, led by the usual suspect, Jacques Chirac, was deeply irresponsible (but what does one expect of the French anyway). As Tom Friedman sagely put it, it represented the distasteful image of pacifists selling arms - arms likely to be used to drive US forces away from Taiwan and to subdue the island.
China seems more intent on bludgeoning the Taiwanese into fearful submission than wooing them with its enchanting market and their shared culture. This is one of the more grievous geopolitical mistakes being made today, but it may take less time to construct another Great Wall than to persuade Beijing that its policy is deeply counterproductive. The EU might play a role to that end. Or it could just whore itself to sell Airbuses. Stay tuned - the embargo issue will resurface again.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Where's Karadzic?
Another Bosnian Serb general has been surrendered to the war crimes tribunal. All in all, the tribunal has made more progress than anyone might have expected of it back in 1995. Still, it's been 10 years since the end of the war, and one has to wonder why no one has arrested the two chief architects of war crimes: Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
According to Carla del Ponte, Serbia knows where Mladic is and could arrest him pretty quickly if it chose to. One shouldn't understate the risk faced by Serbian democrats in confronting these peope; the death of Zoran Djindjic in 2003 was ample proof of how deadly the old militias are. Karadzic reputedly travels between Bosnia and Montenegro. He would probably be an easier catch than Mladic. The political constraints that precluded aggressive action against him earlier eroded a while ago.
All of this calls into question our fundamental competence in tracking down marked men. There's not a lot of places where folks like Mladic and Karadzic could hide (though some Serbs may have found refuge in Russia). If we can't find Karadzic after 10 long years, will we be able to find bin Laden?
Another Bosnian Serb general has been surrendered to the war crimes tribunal. All in all, the tribunal has made more progress than anyone might have expected of it back in 1995. Still, it's been 10 years since the end of the war, and one has to wonder why no one has arrested the two chief architects of war crimes: Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
According to Carla del Ponte, Serbia knows where Mladic is and could arrest him pretty quickly if it chose to. One shouldn't understate the risk faced by Serbian democrats in confronting these peope; the death of Zoran Djindjic in 2003 was ample proof of how deadly the old militias are. Karadzic reputedly travels between Bosnia and Montenegro. He would probably be an easier catch than Mladic. The political constraints that precluded aggressive action against him earlier eroded a while ago.
All of this calls into question our fundamental competence in tracking down marked men. There's not a lot of places where folks like Mladic and Karadzic could hide (though some Serbs may have found refuge in Russia). If we can't find Karadzic after 10 long years, will we be able to find bin Laden?
Monday, March 14, 2005
A Giant Returns
I refer of course to former NAACP President Kweisi Mfune, who has just announced his intention to run for the vacant Senate seat in Maryland in 2006. Mfune will bring immense experience and credibility to the Senate - helping the Democrats to speak with authority on issues of race. I wasn't too worried about the Maryland race, but any concerns I had vanished when I read that Mfune has entered it.
I refer of course to former NAACP President Kweisi Mfune, who has just announced his intention to run for the vacant Senate seat in Maryland in 2006. Mfune will bring immense experience and credibility to the Senate - helping the Democrats to speak with authority on issues of race. I wasn't too worried about the Maryland race, but any concerns I had vanished when I read that Mfune has entered it.
