Last thoughts on the As-Sharq article. Final paragraph:
Here, the Iranian source hesitated before saying with worry; this stage might represent the beginning of a world war, given that extremists will seek to maximize civilian casualties by exploding germ and chemical bombs as well as dirty nuclear bombs across western and Arab cities.
Couple weeks ago I […]

A couple of further thoughts on the As-Sharq al-Awsat article. First, to the extent that Iran is already handing off weapons and intelligence to terror groups in preparation for possible reprisals to an American attack, this is not a good thing. Iran may think it controls these groups like automata, but really they’ll be self-interested […]

Via one of the internet’s premier bedwetter blogs, I find an article in As-Sharq al-Awsat purporting to detail Iran’s plan for retaliation against possible US strikes. Codenamed “Judgement Day,” the operation includes
1- A missile strike directly targeting the US bases in the Persian Gulf and Iraq , as soon as nuclear installations are hit.
2- Suicide […]

Jacob Hornberger:
“Well, then, where are the mass round-ups, and where are the concentration camps?”
Again, people who ask that type of question are missing the point. The point is not whether Bush is exercising his omnipotent, dictatorial power to the maximum extent. It’s whether he now possesses omnipotent, dictatorial power, power that can be exercised whenever […]

The essence of humor is self-congratulation. This can be benign - I’m so clever, I spot the incongruity! - or malicious - I’m so the guy with his boot on your throat - but self-regard is integral to laughter. To watch Stephen Colbert’s performance before the White House Correspondents’ Club dinner last night is to […]

Iran offers a face-saving deal that would reopen its nuclear industry to snap inspections by the IAEA. The United States rejects it out of hand. This reminds me of the runup to Iraq War Phase III in early 2003, when the Iraqi regime would dump massive loads of documents on the UN inspectors and, within […]

The Shiite bloc says it is willing to give up control of the Interior Ministry if it gets Defense. There are a dozen ways this could go wrong or not matter. But it’s something.

One of the least appealing things about the self-consciously “Decent Left” is its narcissism. You get the feeling that the emphasis is less, “What’s the decent thing?” than “How shall we demonstrate our decency?” It’s self-conscious and gestural and obsessed with striking the right profile. Ironically, this mirrors the standard conservative complaint about leftism generally. […]

Over at John and Belle’s blog, Nell chronicles the excellent, serious work her group did in the months before the invasion of Iraq, trying to stop same. She shows, in detail, that what her team actually did bears no resemblance whatsoever to the stereotype of whacked-out, moonbeam, America-hating war protest. The reward?
We made more of […]

Seems like ALL comments to “Blog” are now going into a moderation queue. This is not an option I set or want to have set. Anyone familiar with late-model Wordpress installations who can guide me through a fix?
Thanks.

We invaded the North Pole to make more ice.

Think again with me about the reports of secret Iranian approaches to the United States “in the Spring of 2003.” Imagine that the US responded positively to the Iranian overtures and concluded the comprehensive deal the Iranians offered, a deal that would have made the Libyan abandonment of what passed for its nuke program look […]

Belle Waring, ladies and gentlemen:
Still, there seems to be some sense floating around the pundit class that those on the left who were wrong about invading Iraq were wrong in an interesting, morally meaningful way; wrong in the manner of a wrong Winston Churchill, or something. But one who turned out to be totally wrong, […]

Andy McCarthy wants us to secure our southern border against Iranian nukes - the ones they don’t have. My god but he must go through a lot of pants. Yglesias wonders why he would broach such an obviously insane fear:
Is the idea here that the media should just be flooded with as much Iran-related misinformation […]

Levers are very useful for moving objects that would ordinarily be too heavy. A lever is just a straight, firm bar - it requires a fulcrum to balance across. You manipulate the long end and the short end, on the other side of the fulcrum, impels the object.
You still need to do the same quantity […]

As Tom Scudder has pointed out, 984 is a masterpiece. “Calls Self John Smith” writes
Comment by genuine parallel-Earth equivalent of comic-book protagonist desperately searching for this world’s equivalents of team-mates.
(Quite certain they exist due to mistaken assumption derived from advertising portrayals of such, too afraid of being exposed to possible supervillain threat to ask anyone […]

A coalition of net pundits are promulgating a Statement of Principles asserting a right to engage in online discourse without suffering reprisals in meatspace. I’m mostly down with it and for all I know might be completely supportive, depending on what a couple of things mean. The statement:
A) Private persons are entitled […]

Reader Jeb Winders tips me to a forthcoming pilot for a Battlestar Galactica prequel, called Caprica:
“Caprica” will be set more than 50 years prior to the events of “Battlestar Galactica” and focus on the lives of two families — the Adamas (ancestors of future Galactica commander William) and the Graystones. Humankind’s Twelve Colonies are at […]

“Troop reductions on the way” again/still.

Justin Logan offers initial responses to the initial reactions to the Fox article I discussed yesterday. Especially relevant excerpt:
Neither Ted nor I thinks that bombing Iran would be a good idea if the deal fails, but if you put that into the piece, you immediately limit your readership. The people who I’d like most […]

“Blog” hit 1,000 comments overnight. If anything, passing the milestone seems to have rejuvenated the creative energy of the thread.
My opinion: the true “Mayflower people” are the first hundred or so. The first ten are the folks who hit Plymouth rock while everyone else was still puking in the boat. After that, “4991″ is a […]