"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by Eric Martin This David Leonhard piece (via Matt Y) on the global trend in austerity measures implemented despite the deep recession and severe unemployment crisis is quite appropos of recent conversations on this Site. As such, here is an extended excerpt: The world’s rich countries are now conducting a dangerous experiment. They are repeating an … Read more
by Eric Martin John Boenher, master strategist or stealth peacenik? You decide. Here, he predicts a strong showing and touts his Party’s burgeoning prospects: House Minority Leader John Boehner, the Ohio Republican with his eye on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s gavel, said the tide is turning the GOP’s way. “The American people have written off the … Read more
by Eric Martin Andrew Bacevich makes an extremely important point about some of the costs associated with perpetuating long term war(s), and how such a military posture erodes democratic institutions Long wars are antithetical to democracy. Protracted conflict introduces toxins that inexorably corrode the values of popular government. Not least among those values is a code of military conduct … Read more
by Eric Martin I hadn't heard about Floribert Chebeya Bahizire until I read about his murder in the New York Times, but perhaps his death will serve to bring more scrutiny to the absolutely horrific conditions in the Congo, and further his courageous and tireless work to protect people from the abuses of rapacious domestic … Read more
by Jacob Davies (Eric Martin: Frequent commenter, and occasional blogger in his own right, Jacob Davies, has agreed to pitch in on the front page in order to provide a fresh perspective, and needed relief for (and from) yours truly. Below is Jacob's first of what we hope are many contributions) I'm sure many of you have already read Krugman's column yesterday. Whether … Read more
by Eric Martin Andrew Sullivan is highly quotable in response to David Brooks' gripes about the Rolling Stone story that played a part in the sacking of General McChrystal: David Brooks writes the following sentence today: The most interesting part of my job is that I get to observe powerful people at close quarters. Like … Read more
by Eric Martin William Dalrymple has written a rather insightful article on our current predicament in Afghanistan, leavened with a historical recounting of Britain’s own 19th century experience with conflict in that part of the world. This is a pretty fair summation of the score: The reality of our present Afghan entanglement is that we took … Read more
by Eric Martin Obama administration counterterrorism official John Brennan provides some interesting answers to questions from Eli Lake regarding the parameters of the Obama administration's declared authority to assassinate U.S. citizens abroad: If a person is a U.S. citizen, and he is on the battlefield in Afghanistan or Iraq trying to attack our troops, he will face the … Read more
Thus reads the LA Times Headline. The underlying Rolling Stone Interview is here I don't have any firm idea on whether this development will improve or detract from our overall military and political goals in Afghanistan (I leave that analysis to my able co-bloggers), but it is very important from a political perspective. Civilian control of … Read more
by Eric Martin Shadi Hamid offers a partial defense of General McChrystal, prasing, in particular, McChrystal's emphasis on population-centric counterinsurgency doctrine, and the restrained rules of engagement that go along therewith: …If we're going to fight a war, we should probably fight it under someone who's sensitive to the loss of innocent life. Not just … Read more
by Eric Martin In a somewhat brazen fashion, General McChrystal and some of his top aides have taken to the pages of Rolling Stone to air out political differences with some top administration officials, and the story, is rightly, generating quite a bit of controversey. In the Rolling Stone piece, McChrystal and his team level some harsh (and pointed) criticisms at Vice President Biden, National … Read more
by Eric Martin Paul Krugman provides a concise take-down of the "ZOMG! Social Security is going bankrupt!!!" canard, and indirectly makes the argument that maybe Social Security/the federal government would be a little more solvent if the establishment media had spent less time snickering about the fact that Al Gore said "lockbox" several times, and more time … Read more
by Eric Martin Joe Klein reports on what is becoming an increasingly popular form of pre-emptive scapegoating for what will be the inevitable failure to achieve the more grandiose objectives in Afghanistan (via Michael Cohen): There are increasing grumblings about the timetable set by Obama, which would begin troop withdrawals in July 2011. "It's like fighting with both … Read more
by Eric Martin Because, really, is there a more important holiday? I recently took a day off of work to take E-Money to his swim class. Or as I like to call it… Pre-Olympic training/my retirement fund. What? There's nothing wrong with him earning his keep for a change. Happy Father's Day to all you … Read more
by Eric Martin Marc Lynch has an extremely insightful post about the impact of US foreign policy on the Middle East and its various ruling regimes: "So the Arab core grows hollow," laments former Bush administration Middle East adviser Elliott Abrams in the Weekly Standard today. Most of the essay is an unexceptional restatement of … Read more
by Eric Martin There are a couple of recent items on Afghanistan worth checking out. First, Anthony Cordesman penned a pessimistic report about our chances at achieving some sort of victory in Afghanistan (at least as measured against the unrealistic criteria for success that we have been operating under). It's worth a read. Speaking of … Read more
by Eric Marin Quotable Henley, regarding the Gulf spill, which he calls America's Chernobyl: There can’t be three foreigners not in the employ of Rupert Murdoch who, today, can read about the “American model of democratic capitalism” without sniggering. This is a country whose elites can cry real tears about the pensions of Britons while … Read more
by Eric Martin For ther record, this is my nomination for best U2 song ever. I went to see them three times during the Joshua Tree tour – at all three New York venues (at Brendan Byrne – the Meadowlands – Madison Square Garden and the Nassau Coliseum). They didn't play this song once. But … Read more
by Eric Martin Daniel Larison, riffing on a Hooman Majd post commemorating the one year anniversary of the controversial Iranian election that helped spawn the Green movement, says much of what I was saying at the time, and would like to reiterate now – only he does it better. In particular, Larison discusses some of the "unassailable" conventional … Read more
by Eric Martin Since the various arguments regarding the ostensible justifications for Arizona's heavy-handed, discriminatory immigration law generated a good amount of heat on this site, this post from Adam Serwer seemed useful in directly addressing some of the relevant issues: The arguments in favor of Arizona's draconian immigration law have already been debunked. Arizona isn't … Read more
by Eric Martin As Atrios notes, the discussion surrounding BP's imminent $10 billion dividend disbursement, as well as the fretting about how many British pensioners rely on revenue from that dividend, has been "weird" to say the least. 1. A God Given Right. Dividends are not guaranteed. If a company suffers a massive setback that exposes that company to sizable liability (like, … Read more
by Eric Martin As I’ve been warning for some time, one of the reasons that our Afghan policy will not work is that Pakistan, which has the considerable advantages of geographic proximity, cultural affinity/knowledge, historical ties and what it perceives as vital strategic interests in Afghanistan, is working at cross-purposes: Pakistan‘s main spy agency continues to … Read more
by Eric Martin Huge victory for South Korea. Greece looked flat throughout. The little guy is ecstatic.
by Eric Martin Couple of stories hittin' the tubes that I don't have time to treat in full, but which deserve some attention. First, my buddy Michael Cohen takes on "The Left" for its relative silence, and muted criticisms, regarding the War in Afghanistan post-election (clearly he exempts ObWi from such indictment). Tim Fernholz has … Read more
by Eric Martin The Obama administration seems to be operating under the theory that Gitmo was unpopular in the Muslim world (and beyond), and was thus such a strategic liability, because it was located in the Carribbean; that the gross violations of human rights that occurred at that venue were only abusive because of the name … Read more
by Eric Martin Although this is not the type of story that one comes across in the Western media very often, it should not come as a surprise to anyone paying attention (via): As Israel ordered a slight easing of its blockade of the Gaza Strip Wednesday, McClatchy obtained an Israeli government document that describes … Read more
by Eric Martin Back in late March, I linked to a story that discussed some revelations gleaned from the diaries of Abu Zubaydah, and the surrounding events. Among the more disturbing allegations was the claim that Zubaydah was experimented on to test the parameters of where to draw the line in terms of torture techniques. From that piece: For … Read more
by Eric Martin …And now Andrew McCarthy would like to throw us all aside and put us all away. No, seriously. John Holbo, bless his soul, delves into the pathology prevalent in Andrew Mcarthy's new book – like Jonah Goldberg's infamous masterpiece, but with a twist. Call it Liberal Islamofascim for short: A couple posts … Read more
by Eric Martin Well, can't say I didn't warn ya. Adam Serwer: Two New Jersey men, Mohamed Mahmood Alessa and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, were arrested at JFK airport yesterday on suspicion of trying to join Al-Shabaab, the Somali terrorist group that has been affiliated with al-Qaeda. I've written about this before, but in light of … Read more
by von Scott Johnson is wrong. "Scott Rasmussen" did not publish "a poll [on Friday] morning that found 58 percent of voters favor the abolition of birthright citizenship." Birthright citizenship simply means that one acquired citizenship by being born within US jurisdiction (or in most cases, to US parents). Most US citizens are birthright citizens: I'm a birthright … Read more
by Eric Martin Apparently, this was self defense: Nine Turkish activists killed in an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship were shot a total of 30 times and five died of gunshot wounds to the head, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Friday. Autopsy results showed the men were hit mostly with 9mm bullets, many … Read more
by Eric Martin When discussing the blockade of Gaza, the tendency in the Western media is to focus on what is Israel's legitimate interest in denying arms shipments in light of the rocket attacks emanating from that territory. However, the reality is that the blockade goes far, far beyond interdicting arms shipments, and instead becomes a policy … Read more
by Eric Martin Steve Hynd has a fairly comprehensive round-up of first hand accounts of the Israeli raid on the flotilla as provided by journalists covering the event, as well as the activists on board. As Israel releases detained activists and journalists after the assault on the Gaza relief flotilla, they are beginning to tell … Read more
by Eric Martin Kevin Drum reads a piece by Edmund Andrews on one of the recent reappearances of the housing bubble/CRA zombie lies and Kevin gets…shrill. The evidence is pretty clear on this: CRA had essentially no effect at all on the housing bubble, and Fannie and Freddie can be blamed, at most, for throwing a couple of … Read more
by Eric Martin Dan Froomkin at Huffington Post discussing President Bush’s recent remarks confirming his order to torture certain detainees, and his defense of that decision: George W. Bush’s casual acknowledgment Wednesday that he had Khalid Sheikh Mohammed waterboarded — and would do it again — has horrified some former military and intelligence officials who … Read more