The right-wing tsk tsk tskers are at it again. This time it is a deep bow of respect President Barack Obama offered when greeting Japanese emperor Akihito this weekend in Tokyo. That bastion of conservatism, The Drudge Report, signaled its disgust by shouting in 42-pt. boldface headlines “How Low Can He Get?” And, get this. Drudge uses as an example of diplomatic decorum none other than former Vice...

I was reading Rick Moran’s analysis of the Great Obama Japanese Bow Disaster of Ought Nine today because, well… I’m not really sure what it is about this topic that snagged my attention, but I read Right Wing Nuthouse pretty much every day anyway, so there you are. The fact is, I didn’t get terribly excited when Obama decided to bow to King Abdullah either. Though I do agree with Rick...

Once again, Barack Obama has demonstrated his appalling hatred for America, and his elitism, and his arrogance, and his tearing down and bashing of his country and his predecessor’s foreign policies, by greeting Japan’s prime minister with a deep bow in a culturally appropriate way.

This article from the China Daily either indicates an opening up of China’s state-run media, or officials in Shanghai have done something serous to anger Beijing. Whatever the case, in this China Daily op-ed, columnist Hong Liang uses the imminent visit of Barack Obama to explain why young people in Shanghai love the president – and loath the ‘authoritarian excess’ that critics regard...

As a little boy, I used to crawl on the floor for hours setting up dozens of dominoes in various patterns, only to topple them down—and doing it over and over again. Well, the Dutch have taken this pastime to new levels. Today, “Domino Day,” they set a new world record—again—for the most consecutive dominoes to fall in succession, using over 4.5 million dominoes in a fantastic...

The attacks brought Americans together briefly, but the aftermath is still sowing division–as the decision of Attorney General Eric Holder to try five of the 9/11 terrorists in lower Manhattan brings conflict and confusion. On the surface, it’s hard to argue with Holder’s logic: “After eight years of delay, those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11th will finally face...

I have consistently supported publicly honoring our fallen heroes—with the consent of family members—when they touch American soil for the last time at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. Much apprehension and controversy have surrounded this issue. Finally, this spring, the Obama administration implemented a similar policy as we have at Arlington National Cemetery which allows the family to decide...

Charlie Savage on the Obama administration’s plans to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four of Mohammed’s alleged accomplices in federal court in New York City — and to use the military tribunal system at Guantanamo to try five other high-profile detainees. This decision is part of a strategy Obama revealed in his National Archives speech last May:

Claude Lévi-Strauss, who died on October 30th (aged 100), made the study of anthropology as fashionable as philosophy and poetry. The Economist pays a tribute: “Before Claude Lévi-Strauss revolutionised the discipline, anthropology in France, and generally elsewhere, was a matter of ill-attended lectures in small, cold halls, and the collection of feathers and fish-hooks as evidence of the quaint divergences...

CAPTIONS SAYS: ‘DREAM OF THE ARABS’, AS A ‘ZIONIST’ ARM PUNCTURES THE BALLOON OF THE DREAM Continuing our coverage of the global reaction to the Fort Hood killings, this morning we posted this Arabic op-ed from the United Arab Emirates – a moderate Arab state considered friendly toward the United States. Writing for the Dar Al Khaleej, columnist Saad Mehyo suggests a common Arab...

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd batted spiritedly during his recent India visit and delivered a googly to bypass ticklish issues and move on to substantive bilateral economic and strategic issues that would help strengthen ties between India and Australia. Rudd squarely faced the contentious issues of racial violence against Indian students in Australia, as also the continuing ban on the supply of uranium...

Hold on to your hats! As if there wasn’t enough conflict occurring at the present time, the war of words between Colombia and Venezuela seems to be escalating – along with the paranoia. And just as Washington has won permission to open seven military bases in Colombia. This somewhat hair-raising article from Venezuela’s El Universal shows just how thorny such a war would be – and warns...

‘HOPE FOR THE OTHER WALLS’ Despite the mind-boggling number of issues he must attend to – was it a mistake for President Obama to refrain from traveling to Germany for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall? According to Le Figaro’s chief editorialist, Pierre Rousselin, President Obama not only missed a chance to demonstrate the strength of democracy, he showed how low Europe...

Who is to blame that we are not winning in Afghanistan? Karzai, Obama, NATO, the Europeans, or Jimmy Carter again? Afghanistan’s President Karzai was criticized a lot lately. Now the Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens comes to his defense and puts the blame on NATO. He makes the dubious claim that: Matters went abruptly south in Afghanistan after several years in which they had gone swimmingly...

Warren Buffet is nobody’s fool when it comes to global business and investing. We should all heed his suggestion to invest in America’s Railroads and private companies designing, building and maintaining key national and regional infrastructure projects around the world. We won’t be able to buy BNSF shares for a short time since Berkshire Hathaway will own 100% of it, but within the next few years, there...

The Iraqi Army Diaries—entry 3 By s d liddick In the spring of 2009 I embedded with the U.S. Army’s 1-63 Combined Arms Battalion, in the small town of Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad. The town is a cardinal point on what American soldiers have termed the Triangle of Death. Within a month I was offered a de facto embed spot with the Iraqi Army (IA), by General Mohammed, commander of the 17th Division....

The day the Wall came down: Bewildered East German border guards puzzle over whether to shake the hands of their former adversaries from the West, on November 9, 1989. Yes – today is the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A reading of this op-ed by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev shows, however, that the wounds that divide Russia and the West – and even Europe’s...

As the world celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Lech Walesa, the co-founder of Solidarnosc, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of Poland, wants to share in the celebration, the honor and the credit—and perhaps rightly so. Walesa was recently interviewed by Spiegel Online and says the collapse of communism really started in the Polish shipyards, in Gdansk. In the...

Germany, amid big crowds and some special appearances by world leaders, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall. And the wall falls again – this time a symbolic wall of giant dominoes, many of them created by children who live in countries where there are, in effect, political walls. The BBC has the details in this report: UPDATE: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton represented...

The entire world is puzzling over the mortifying attack by U.S. Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan on his fellow soldiers. According to Luis Lema of Switzerland’s Le Temps, whatever was going through his head – the lessons learned will not be encouraging. For Le Temps, Luis Lema seems to agree with Senator Joe Lieberman that the act was one of terror when he writes in part: “Here we...

Exactly 20 years ago today, the infamous Berlin Wall “came down.” It would still be weeks and months before the monstrous construction would be actually torn down. However, the symbolic, emotional—and practical—impacts of that night 20 years ago were real, are still with us and are vividly remembered. The following article appeared today in the Austin American-Statesman and has been...

In what is bound to be seen as another step in Iran’s increasingly deteriorating relations with the United States, Iran has charged 3 American hikers with espionage: Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, reports three detained U.S. citizens have been charged with espionage. Tehran’s general prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said Monday that investigations are continuing. The three Americans...

ABC News reports that U.S. military officials were aware that the shooter in the Fort Hood masscre had was trying to get in touch with people associated with Al Qaeda — a report that, if true, has a host of implications on the military, homeland security and political fronts: U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated...

Paresh Nath, The Khaleej Times, UAE This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

This is the second in a series of articles dedicated to our Veterans. According to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Veterans Day is a day to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. Of course, every man or woman who has honorably served our nation in the military is a patriot and is honored on Veterans Day. There...