Has the world seen the last of the major U.S.-mounted invasions? For Poland’s Rzeczpospolita, columnist Marek Magierowski writes that while electoral politics played a role in President Obama’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, the explanation goes much deeper. For Rzeczpospolita, Marek Magierowski writes in part: Obama also knows that his country is no longer capable of bearing the financial...

Some of you may have noticed that the Taliban has engaged in a terror attack on Kabul, Afghanistan’s Intercontinental Hotel. They just don’t seem interested in cooperating with the Afghan government or any Western entity. This attack may or may not be over. Apparently helicopters just shot terrorists on the hotel roof. Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — Gunmen and suicide bombers attacked Kabul’s...

In God We Vote by Peter Funt Mitt Romney’s emergence as the early front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, along with Jon Huntsman’s recent entry in the race, makes certain that the 2012 campaign will continue the trend of carefully weighing candidates’ religious beliefs. Both men will be scrutinized because of their affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints...

Amid all the celebrating at the Stonewall Inn and elsewhere, the advent of same-sex marriage in New York stirs in the spouse of and co-author of a book by a divorce lawyer memories of how archaic and brutal that state’s divorce laws have always been. It was only a year ago that New York, which now recognizes the inhumanity of denying legitimacy to those who want to share their lives lovingly and legally, was...

Is Washington stabbing Hamid Karzai in the back by holding meetings with the Taliban without the involvement of his government? According to this article from Pakistan’s Frontier Post, it’s probably too late for Karzai, who whether he knows it or not, has been nothing but a U.S. stooge since the fall of the Taliban. The Frontier Post editorial says in part: It should come as no surprise. For quite...

Update: @JoshRoseneau has a very good followup (July) at @SciAm: http://is.gd/AN1HHh In 1925, Tennessee prohibited the teaching of evolution in public schools (The Butler Act). John Scopes, a high school biology teacher, was convicted of violating the law, and his trial highlighted the divide between “science” and fundamentalist (literalist) religion. (It was the first live radio broadcast from...

Several days ago I began writing a well balanced article about right wing ideas to dissolve, curtail or under-fund agencies (who knows actually) like the EPA and OSHA. Regulations are costing us jobs they say. They say the huge pile of private capital on the sidelines would come rushing to create jobs if only for those burdensome government regulations. I planned to point out in my column how a 50 state solution...

Yaakov Kirschen, Dry Bones This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

While the United States regards itself as a highly transparent democracy, columnist Enrique Lynch of Argentina’s La Capital writes that the photo taken during the killing of Osama bin Laden in the White House Situation Room reflects a blatant and dangerous exclusion of the public more reminiscent of a monarchy than a 21st century democracy. For Argentina’s La Capital, Enrique Lynch writes in part: What’s...

Is the United States behind the recent uptick of violent attacks in Iraq? According to columnist Tamam Abdulhamid of Iraq’s Kitabat, this appears to be part of U.S. a strategy to convince Iraqi lawmakers and military officials that American forces are still needed in the country. For Iraq’s Kitabat, Tamam Abdulhamid writes in part: What do the increasing frequency of such attacks and the rising...

We can but hope. WaPo’s columnist Dana Milbank, a friend of Joe’s, reacts in horror at Lieberman’s latest foray into Beck-land. The Israeli tabloid Yedioth Ahronoth came out on Wednesday with a shocking report: Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann would join Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) at Glenn Beck’s rally in Israel in August. It turned out...

In World War II and post-war U.S. “women drivers” jokes were all the rage, a stereotypical joke form that has long since died. But in Saudia Arabia attitudes towards women drivers — and women driving — is no joke. And women there are doing something about it: Women in Saudi Arabia have been openly driving cars in defiance of an official ban on female drivers in the ultra-conservative...

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Will the U.N. General Assembly recognize a Palestinian state when it reconvenes in September? And if it does, what will the fallout when the United States – as President Obama has said it will do – vetoes the resolution? For Spain’s El Pais, columnist Louis Bassets warns that one of the consequences may be an even greater gulf between America and Europe. For El Pais, Louis Bassets writes in...

The Coming Crisis in the Middle East by Barry Rubin The gap between dominant Western perceptions of the Middle East and the region’s reality is dangerously wide. While the “Arab Spring” is celebrated as an advance for moderation and democracy, in fact the advance is going to revolutionary Islamists. Developments in Turkey and Egypt especially threaten to plunge the Middle East back into an...

I have so far refrained from commenting on the sex and political scandals involving current U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner of New York and former U.S. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina. Some TMV readers might complain that this is an obvious oversight by an allegedly left-leaning blogger overlooking two Democrats. This partisan charge is far from the truth as I have enjoyed many a good sex scandal...

The nation’s economy is stagnant and many think it may tank again. The official high unemployment masks the even higher “unofficial” one most Americans see. The President appears to be out-of-touch with reality and continues to act as a tool of Wall Street. There is low voter approval for the Incumbent and most Democratic policies. With all this news, Republicans should be making plans to take...

Are offers of Western aid to the Arab revolutions a shell game designed to benefit the world’s wealthiest nations at the expense of Arabs demanding freedom and justice? Columnist H. Sulayman of Algeria’s El Khabar writes that the G8 countries are pretending to side with Arab peoples after decades of taking benefit from their oppression. For Algeria’s El Khabar, columnist H. Sulayman writes...

That’s the title of this admittedly Christian and, I hope, charitable, take on what’s come to be called Weinergate.

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s rebuke of Presisdent Obama before a joint session of the U.S. Congress has not only weakened Obama’s hand at home, but has badly damaged his influence among Arabs. For Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran, Kharroubi Habib writes that this leaves Palestinians one choice: to press the U.N. when the General Assembly opens in September to recognize a Palestinian...

Cover of a comic put out by those pressing for the anti-circumcision measure Talk about anti-semitism? It’s now official: the anti- circumcision measure on the ballot in San Francisco is no longer an even remotely funny subject. We’ve done a bit of a joking post here and a more serious one here about the measure that will be on the ballot in November in San Francisco seeking to ban circumcisions...

As if failing to apologize for Obama Care Massachusetts style, being a serial flip flopper and belonging to the wrong cult weren’t enough Mitt Romney now believes in science. Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney broke with Republican orthodoxy on Friday by saying he believes that humans are responsible, at least to some extent, for climate change. “I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe...

Have the anti-French headlines in New York’s tabloid press since the arrest of the disgraced Dominique Strauss-Kahn gone too far? Marie-Christine Tabet of Le Journal du Dimanche au Quotidien writes that the blood-sport of New York newsgathering is such, that chances are, the ‘French bashing has only just begun.’ For Le Journal du Dimanche au Quotidien, Marie-Christine Tabet reports on how...

A ROMNEY FAMILY CHRISTMAS CARD It has been 50 years since Americans elected the first Roman Catholic president, yet religion will loom large as Mitt Romney announced his run for the 2012 Republican nomination today. There is an old saying that Americans are suspicious of any religion other than their own, and Romney has the additional handicap of being a Mormon, a widely misunderstood denomination outside of...

Seems that it is not as unusual as some would have us think