A few days ago, President Obama outlined his plans for the war in Afghanistan, which basically consist of: * Further increasing the presence of American forces in Afghanistan—4,000 more troops to train Afghan security forces on top of the 17,000 extra combat troops that he already has ordered to Afghanistan. * Increasing aid to Pakistan to the tune of $1.5 billion every year over the next five years. * Setting benchmarks to measure progress in fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The United...

In October of last year, a Miami court handed down a conviction. It was a very unusual conviction. It was the first time a U.S. Court handed down such a conviction. “This is the first case in the United States to charge an individual with criminal torture. I hope this case will serve as a model to future prosecutions of this type,” proudly said none other than Bush’s Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey. On January 10 of this year, a federal court in Miami brought that case to conclusion...

A few weeks ago, Patrick Leahy, six-term Democratic Senator from Vermont, a former prosecutor and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote an article in TIME titled “The Case for a Truth Commission.” In it, the Senator discusses the abuses during the Bush administration years—such as the scandal at Abu Ghraib, the disclosure of torture memos and the revelations about the warrantless surveillance of Americans. Leahy then asks, “So what is to be done about the abuses...

I am the eternal optimist. You have heard about the little boy, on Christmas morning, looking for his pony in a pile of horse manure? Well, “that’s me.” Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows me, that I take delight in every “up tick” in the stock market, regardless of how small or fleeting. You may call me naive. That’s OK. That I look for every sign that our economy may be recovering from the tragic recession we inherited from the previous administration....

Joe Gandelman has pretty much covered the waterfront on this one. So here is only one more perspective, from the New York Times. Basically, President Obama outlined plans to further increase the presence of American forces in Afghanistan (4,000 more troops to train Afghan security forces on top of the 17,000 extra combat troops that he already has ordered to Afghanistan); increase aid to Pakistan to the tune of $1.5 billion every year over the next five years; and setting benchmarks to measure progress...

A couple of days ago, I “reported” some of the Dutch reaction to the Netherlands’ version of our AIG scandal in “The Netherlands ‘AIG.‘” The Dutch “version” being the ING Group, that is reported to have paid out 300 million euros (about $405 million) in bonuses to thousands of its employees despite the company’s steep losses. As part of the Dutch reaction, I mentioned, “While I don’t think legions of Dutch “boeren” (farmers) armed...

Yesterday, March 25, was National Medal of Honor Day. President Barack Obama marked the day at Arlington National Cemetery by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, accompanied by four living recipients of the nation’s highest military award. He also expressed his gratitude to all servicemen and women, especially those who have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor: Since it was first awarded during the Civil War to the current battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Medal of...

The AIG bonuses story has been monopolizing the headlines in the United States. At his press conference tonight, the President was asked about the AIG “scandal” again, and he addressed it, again. But a very similar story is playing out in the Netherlands. It is eerily similar to AIG’s—even the name of the financial company involved is only three letters long (or short). The company is ING. Bank Group ING is a relatively young Dutch global financial services company providing...

On February 26, I wrote about Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ decision to reverse the 18-year old ban on news coverage of our returning fallen heroes at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. It was—and still is—a controversial decision, albeit it will be up to the families of the heroes to decide whether to admit the press to ceremonies at Dover Air Force Base. More recently, the Pentagon has also announced that it will cover the costs for those families who wish to meet their fallen...

On Saturday, I wrote a post summarizing an amazing CSIS report titled “Study on a Possible Israeli Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Development Facilities.” It wasn’t until today that I read a message sent by Israeli President Shimon Peres to the Iranian people on the occasion of Novruz. Novruz in Persian means “New[-year]-day”, and is the beginning of the year for the people in Iran and in countries with common cultural heritages. Since my post on the CSIS study...

We have all read and heard about the Iranian nuclear program and its possible capability to produce nuclear weapons; about the diplomatic, economic, and other ongoing efforts to get Iran to come clean on its nuclear weapons intentions; and about the threat such a capability would pose to Israel and to world peace. We have also seen reports about the possibility of an Israeli preemptive strike against such Iranian nuclear facilities and capabilities. But until a few days ago, I had not dreamt of...

Except for in the Netherlands, in the Flemish part of Belgium—the Dutch spoken there is referred to as Flemish—and in a few of the former Dutch colonies, such as Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, Dutch is not generally spoken anywhere else in the world. (Dutch is also the “parent” language of a couple other languages, such as Afrikaans in South Africa.) The population of the Netherlands is around 17 million. Therefore, it is not surprising that English is comprehensively...

With a new administration and fresh national defense policies, continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and tight defense budgets, there continue to be important daily developments in this area. Under the heading “Defense Potpourri,” I plan to periodically summarize some of the most important and interesting news items, as long as there is interest. AIR REFUELING TANKER CONTRACT I have mentioned before that, after strong protests by Boeing, the huge, $35 billion air refueling tanker...

Boeing yesterday unveiled the F-15 Silent Eagle (F-15SE) which, according to Boeing, “… is designed to meet our international customers’ anticipated need for cost-effective stealth technologies, as well as for large and diverse weapons payloads,” and “The innovative Silent Eagle is a balanced, affordable approach designed to meet future survivability needs.” While not a “fifth generation” aircraft like the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning...

About a week ago, I posted excerpts from a story from the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, about a young Dutch farmer, Jelle Hans Reitsma, who emigrated to the U.S. 20 years ago and recently committed suicide because of huge—to him probably insurmountable— financial problems. The story evoked only one comment from a reader—a nice and sympathetic one at that. I have wondered since then, why the story didn’t attract more attention and more commentary. There are probably many...

One of my favorite segments in Newsweek is “The Dignity Index.” In the magazine’s words, this Index is “a weekly mathematical survey of dubious behavior that measures, on a scale of 1 to 100, just how low a person can go.” The scale ranges from “mildly tacky” to “utterly shameless.” In very fine print, below the index, one with good eyes or a good prescription can read: “The scores for the dignity index are a subjective and unscientific...

Bloomberg business headline: Housing starts in the U.S. unexpectedly snapped the longest streak of declines in 18 years in February, adding to signs that the pace of the economy’s decline may be easing. Hallelujah! And I am not even very religious Business Breaking News: For the fifth day in six consecutive business days, the markets close higher. Hallelujah! And look at these other market headlines today: DOW, S&P 500 on pace for best monthly performance since April 2008 NASDAQ on pace for...

On Sunday, the New York Times, published an Op-Ed piece by Mark Danner, a professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, and Bard College, and author of “Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib and the War on Terror.” His essay, “Tales From Torture’s Dark World,” contains extensive excerpts from a “Confidential” report prepared by the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, after interviews with detainees transferred from overseas...

First, for almost eight years, we listened to Republican politicians and pundits lay blame on former President Clinton for everything that happened during the Bush administration—from the 9/11 attack that occurred towards the beginning, to the economic recession at the end of those lost years. Then we heard Rush Limbaugh and his ilk incessantly blame the election of Barack Obama for the worsening recession, even while Bush was still “running” the country, November through January. Finally,...

In “Bring Sean Home, Now a Matter of State,” I wrote on how the desperate fight by an American father, David Goldman, to bring his son home—an 8-year old boy who is being held in Brazil in violation of all international norms, and human decency—had reached the State Department level, with the involvement of Hillary Clinton. I also mentioned that, “If it doesn’t get resolved soon, hopefully President Obama will use his power and influence when he talks to the Brazilian President...

I could be wrong, but I don’t remember detailed public opinion polls being taken here at home to coincide with planned major defense weapon systems acquisitions. On the other hand, public opinion expressed through editorials, opinion pieces, and through the use of lobbyists, corporate, political, and advocacy groups advertisements and public relations campaigns have often been a factor with important, expensive or controversial military procurements. One recent and salient example is the highly...

In his “America Steps Forward on Stem Cell Funds … So What About Germany?: Der Tageszeitung, Germany,“ co-blogger William Kern gives a sampling of reactions to Obama’s decision to increase federal funding for stem cell research, and also of governmental stem cell research conditions and limitations in European countries. One of those countries that are looking very closely at the U.S. decisions is the Netherlands. Apparently, the Netherlands has had a law banning the creation of test tube...

5th generation fighter planes from Gizmodo on Vimeo I have written several pieces on the ongoing debate and upcoming decisions by the U.S. on the acquisition of additional F-22 Raptor combat aircraft and on both the U.S and other nations’ plans to join in or to continue to participate in the development and purchase of the upcoming F-35 Lightning II aircraft. Those debates continue. Recently, members of the Dutch Parliament visited both the U.S. Government and the Lockheed Martin F-35 program...

I had read reports that Texas Gov. Rick Perry was planning to turn down $555 million that would expand our state’s unemployment benefits, because, allegedly, the money would have required the state to keep funding the expanded benefits after the stimulus money ran out. So, in illusional hopes of perhaps persuading my Governor into accepting the money for the sake of present and future unemployed Texans, I wrote my customary Letter to the Editor to my local (Austin) newspaper a couple of weeks...

One of the consistent, indisputable and well-deserved comments made about GOP spokesman Rush Limbaugh is that he is a brilliant man. And he is. Take his well-publicized remarks that he hopes Obama will fail. More precisely, his extended and detailed remarks on this subject, on his radio show on February 13, 2009: I’ll say it again. Not only do I want Obama to fail, I want this package to fail. I want this to blow up in their face. I hope the stimulus bill fails. I hope it does exactly what...