Are the West and Iran out of control and poised on the brink of disaster? That’s the tone of this editorial from China’s state-controlled Global Times, which warns both sides that Beijing won’t be pressured to choose one or the other – and that a resort to force, as far as Chinese leaders are concerned, is out of the question. The article gives good insight into Beijing’s thinking...

I had previously posted a statement on Keith Olbermann’s latest commentary about the Tea Party movement. Although I felt my basic criticism of his stand was fair I also thought some of the language was less than precise so I am offering this newer and somewhat broader version. Just to make my own views clear, I have both agreements and disagreements with the movement. I think they are on many levels...

Richard Norton Smith is a distinguished presidential historian and former head of six presidential libraries. He has published numerous books and articles on our presidents and is a nationally recognized expert on “most anything and everything related to the presidency.” His books include “An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover” (1984), “The Harvard Century: The Making of a University to a...

I’m just an average person who turns the air conditioning on when its hot and the furnace on when its cold. When it comes to global warming, I figure the pollutants we emit into the air probably contributes to the trend in some degree. That’s an unshakable belief just as evolution makes more sense than the creationist theory. Now, what empirical knowledge I have on climate change you can stuff in...

Former Congressman Charlie Wilson, who died last week at the age of 76, is known mostly for his activities in support of the Taliban, who afterwards managed to evict the Soviets from Afghanistan. The author of this article from Nicaragua’s La Prensa, apparently a former member of Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front who eventually switched sides and joined the U.S.-backed Contra...

Could it be that subconsciously, Tiger Woods prefers Caucasian sexual partners as a way of getting back at his former colonial masters? Furthermore, have today’s African leaders enjoyed the spectacle of his downfall for exactly the same reason? That is the argument put forth in the pages of Nigeria’s Daily Sun by Dr. Henry A. Onwubiko, one of that country’s leading social activists and scientists. For...

Glenn Greenwald linked to this post by Digby in one of the updates to his post about right-wing hypocrisy in regard to the treatment of American missionaries arrested in Haiti, but I did not actually read it until just now.

The recent arrest of 10 American missionaries who went to Haiti on a supposed “rescue mission” and left that country with 33 Haitian children without the knowledge or authorization of Haitian authorities has exposed an ugly double standard among those on the right who have been the most contemptuous of human rights advocates and the work they do.

I actually got my hopes up a bit when I saw the blog post title at Memeorandum: “The Case Against Marc Thiessen.” At Power Line? Not likely. Sure enough, hopes dashed:

This is an essay the progressive pundits and Democratic congress men and women don’t want to hear. The two issues I am addressing is a warning, in one, and a solution that would defuse a sensitive racial canard in the other. Issue No. 1 is a stampede to kill or modify the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule. Let me say at the outset that even the most die-hard Republican with an ounce of honesty in...

It’s been a long time since we’ve had the opportunity to laugh at anything Dan Quayle said:

NBC Uses Facebook Connect As An Exclusive Login I won’t be commenting on any NBC Olympics blog posts, or giving them a thumbs-up. That’s because the only option for commenting voting is Facebook Connect. Unlike the federal government, which has also privileged Facebook Connect upon occasion, NBC is a corporation. It has no “taxpayer public interest” that should mandate the option of...

When I want to check the weather vane how liberals are thinking, I don’t bother with the blogs. I watch Bill Maher on HBO. For one thing, Maher is smarter than most liberals. At least his perspective and insight is clearer. Maher doesn’t mince words. In case you haven’t noticed, Maher is challenging President Obama with the same zeal he reserves for conservatives and right-wing religious groups....

I’ve recently started my fifth decade on this planet. In retrospect, I never expected much from any of our prior Republican Presidents. They certainly did not disappoint my low expectations. I have continued my up and down professional life in four different cities and always working in the private sector. I started Internet blogging about a year ago on TMV. I shied away from the public sector because...

According to this article from Russia’s, Argumenty i Facty, a report that may have been approved by the Russian president has created a media ‘furor’: An institute ‘under the patronage’ of President Medvedev, is predicting NATO integration and a more ‘liberal’ future for the country. The article from Russia’s Argumenty i Facty says in part: The present furor in...

Neo-cons as Bill Kristol and new adoptee Sarah Palin are suggesting the U.S. go to war against Iran if that nation continues its path to develop nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, a more pragmatic President Obama is seeking tougher sanctions against the Islamic regime on the same issue. Palin’s approach is strictly political. She said an Obama get-tough stand on Iran could be a game-changer in the 2012 presidential...

It’s been brewing for some time, but the apparent antipathy between Presidents Sarkozy and Obama – particularly expressed by the French leader, is becoming increasingly difficult to deny. According to this news item by the Paris correspondent of Switzerland’s Le Temps, Sylvain Besson, Sarkozy has begun openly using President Obama as an example of how not to do things. For Le Temps, Sylvain...

Things could be worse. If the millions who wanted John Edwards as President in the past decade had had their way, the nation would now be involved in a scandal to make Bill Clinton look like Mr. Monogamy. The prospect of an X-rated video starring a Commander-in-Chief surfaces in the current court battle over possession of tapes showing Edwards in carnal congress with Rielle Hunter, who bore his illegitimate...

Graphic novels come in different forms. You see them in extended commercial comic book hero formats, where it’s like reading a mega-comic book -- a comic form novel that clearly is the result of extra time, effort and love put into its drawing and scripting. There are the ones that are descendents of classic “underground comics,” offering what the Comics Code Authority would never sanction...

Often ignored in discussions about U.S.-China relations are the 23 million people of Taiwan who are caught in the middle – and the freedom that they enjoy, which seems to them to be on the line every day. In Democratic Taiwan, the subject of what America could, should and might do to protect the island is a constant preoccupation. We posted two articles from Taiwan today. The first, by columnist Paul...

In a recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens lists some “excellent arguments for ending the U.S. military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy” and some “lousy ones.” As some of the “lousy ones” Stephens dismissively—even contemptuously—mentions the support of U.S. Defense Secretary Bob Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen to end DADT; the comparisons...

Perhaps folks who are having trouble understanding how record-breaking snowstorms on the East Coast could be happening if global climate change is real, would find this piece at The New Republic, written by Bradford Plumer, helpful. Brad quotes meteorologist Jeff Masters (emphasis in original):

Is there a case to be made that Iran has every right to enrich uranium and even pursue a nuclear weapon if it so wishes? There are many people, particularly in developing countries, who see the “big five” nuclear powers as hypocrites that refuse to consider the strategic imperatives of Iranian geopolitics. This editorial from yesterday’s edition of Mexico’s La Jornada says in part: To...

A Reuters photographer was freed today, by the U.S. military, after 17 months of imprisonment, in Iraq, without charge, and without being allowed to see the evidence against him because it was “classified.”

Mikhail Gorbachev, a man who has seen it all before, favors a rapid demilitarization of the situation in Afghanistan. In this opinion piece from Russia’s Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Mr. Gorbachev reveals some of his Afghanistan battle scars, says the allies have only a “50-50″ chance of success, and tells of the advice he offered President Obama. For Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Mikhail Gorbachev writes in...