A couple weeks back I came out for a two-state solution–the “peace process”–and Saif Ammous, who generally endorses stuff I write, scoffed at me. I have to post our dialogue on the question. Will get to it soon. In the…
I’m a devoted Chris Matthews watcher because he’s so street-smart and so knowledgeable about political history (and also a former Peace Corps volunteer). Last night he was the one guy on his show to understand the ravishing power of Obama’s…
Nearly twice as many Democrats showed up as Republicans in Iowa, and more than 2/3 of them voted for progressive candidates, Obama and Edwards. Obama was lifted by idealistic and probably angry youth. The center does not hold. Even Hillary…
It seems that American Jews have become the go-to-guys for politicians taking on–or playing up–the threat of radical Islam. Ten days ago the Times Magazine published a fine piece of reporting from Kenya about Joseph Lekuton, an M.P. from a…
Tom Lantos, 79, the Hungarian-born Californian who is the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, has announced his retirement due to illness, his struggle with cancer. Good luck to him. Though I wonder if this is not an epochal…
I saw “Charlie Wilson’s War” last night. B+. It was too one-note for me. But any Hollywood film that tries to deal with foreign policy gets kudos here. Also, I was pleased to see that the film touches on my…
Neoconservative Bill Kristol is still at it. In the latest First Things, a journal about religion, he praises the writings of Yiddish scholar Ruth Wisse–who has elsewhere called for young American Jews to serve as a kind of intellectual “army”…
Jimmy Carter lost his presidency in 1979 (I think that was the year), when he was shocked that the Soviets had invaded Afghanistan. He had trusted them. Shocked. Americans didn’t want a naive president. They turned to Ronald Reagan. I…
Celebrity has its uses. Two Palestinian villages have now called on Susan Sarandon to repudiate diamond-magnate Lev Leviev. So the settlements issue is creeping into the American debate. And today already the Israeli/Palestinian talks have broken down over the expansion…