In a great piece in the Times last week, Neil MacFarquhar reported from Damascus that the disastrous Iraq war, chased by Israel’s Lebanon war, has set back the cause of reform in the Arab world. An Arab moderate is afraid…
In his column yesterday on the Lamont victory in Connecticut, Times columnist David Brooks took up his new causeÂsaving the Democratic PartyÂand said that Joe Lieberman, and not the “net roots,” has the wisdom to see that “The civilized world…
Bad news is good news for journalists, and a Middle East in flames has launched a network star: Richard Engel of NBC. Never one to pontificate or editorialize, the Arabic speaker and BBC veteran lets human beings tell the story…
Several times in the 1880s, Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo about his efforts to eat “strawberries in the spring.” He was talking about learning to enjoy things in the moment, also of not trying to rush something…
Addressing the issue of why liberals don’t speak up about Israel, Kevin Drum, the Political Animal, justifies silence by saying the issues are “complex” and because “posts that display any sense of sympathy for the Palestinians run the risk of…
Bob Herbert had a breathtaking column in the Times today, condemning Israel for going overboard in its (just) retaliation for the Hezbollah strike, and faulting the U.S. for allowing it. “Neither Israel nor the United States can kill enough Muslims…
I bashed The New Republic’s Martin Peretz for hinting ominously that Harvard Pres. Larry Summers’s departure would result in the loss of $100 million gifts to the school. Oops. Turns out he was right.
Pierpaolo Barbieri has a funny lead in his review of a Genet play: Walking into Harvard-Radcliffe Summer Theatre’s “The Maids,” I mentioned to the usher that some problems, in addition to the oppressive heat, had made my day heavy. When…
I am a Yankee hater (I grew up in Baltimore). My friend Dan Swanson is also a Yankee-hater, of the Chicago White Sox variety. I polled him on his feelings following the Yankees sweep of the world champions this past…