Archives for May 2009

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced on Monday that he had fired Gen. David McKiernan. Time reports that Gates was impatient with McKiernan’s failure to take charge and solve logistical and tactical problems himself. The allegations may well be unfair to McKiernan, who maintained that his army was way too small for its task. But […]

Wanda Sykes Comedy @ White House Correspondents Dinner – 05/09/09, Part I: and Part II, which includes the destruction of Rush Limbaugh and a wicked remark on Dick Cheney: End/ (Not Continued)

King Abdullah II of Jordan revealed to the Times of London that the Obama administration may attempt a comprehensive peace treaty between Israel and the entire Muslim world. The latter would recognize Israel and grant El Al overflight rights. Israel in return would have to freeze settlement activity and move smartly toward a two-state solution […]

David E. Sanger, writing in the New York Times Book Review, reviews my new book, Engaging the Muslim World. Sanger, chief Washington correspondent of the NYT, is himself a highly experienced and award-winning observer of American diplomacy. So the positive review from his pen is especially gratifying. Engaging the Muslim World End/ (Not Continued)

In Pakistan, a suicide bomber hit a checkpoint near Peshawar on Monday morning, killing 10 The Pakistani military is claiming it has killed hundreds of militants in the fighting in the Malakand region of the North-West Frontier Province. The campaign against the Taliban there continues, and now includes bombing raids. That cannot possibly be good […]

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government is pursuing talks with Gulbadin Hekmatyar, an old holy warrior of the 1980s and 1990s who helped destroy Afghanistan. Hekmatyar went from being the biggest recipient of CIA black money in the 1980s to being leader of an anti-American guerrilla group from fall of 2001. His Hizb-i Islami or Pary […]

Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded Friday that the US military cease its aerial bombing campaigns in Afghanistan, in the wake of a mistaken bombing alleged to have killed 120 civilians in Farah province south of Herat. This demand would be provocative if it really were a demand or likely to be paid any attention to. […]

President Obama will fulfill his pledge to make a major address to the Muslim world from a Muslim capital from Cairo on June 4. Although Egypt has a soft dictatorship and so might not be the best venue from the point of view of human rights, it has other advantages. Its population is over 80 […]

On Thursday in Pakistan, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani announced that the Pakistani government would seek no further peace deals with the Pakistani Taliban but was rather dedicated to defeating them and reasserting national sovereignty in the northwest of the country. The speech marked a major change in policy for the Pakistani government, which has […]