With word coming out today that Iraq is expected to request several thousand trainers but no troops after the end of 2011 we take another step on the slow process of getting out of Iraq. A similar road is being followed in Afghanistan although there it looks like we won’t be out until 2012 or 2013. Of course as is always the case with briar patches the withdrawal may not be as easy as we hope. Many are...

Damning evidence has been surfacing during the past decades revealing how different US administrations have been looking the other way despite Pakistan military establishment’s open role in supplying nuclear know-how to rogue regimes. Now A.Q. Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb program, asserts that the government of North Korea bribed top military officials in Islamabad to obtain access to...

It is time to celebrate – that is, unless you are the ‘Great Satan’ or any other devil in human form. Because today is the birthday of the Mahdi, also known as the Muslim Messiah. And according to Iran’s state-run Kayhan, it’s time to prepare ourselves for his return. Kayhan columnist Seyyed Ali Shahbaz informs us of the Mahdi’s imminent arrival – along with Jesus...

Its grasslands have absorbed too much blood. Its winds have carried away too many sounds of interethnic, religious and civil warfare and strife in which more than 2 million people have been killed and more than 5 million have become internally and externally displaced. Its tropical forests have witnessed too much grief and violence. But while its past is troubled and its future uncertain, yesterday the...

Is the United States doing enough to put an end to the drug violence south of the border? According to this editorial from Mexico’s El Universal, while the Obama government has taken tiny steps in the right direction, opposition from the U.S. gun lobby and the legalization of marijuana in 15 U.S. states has hindered progress. The editorial from El Universal says in part: The weapons that kill thousands...

As a young U.S. Air Force airborne radio operator in the late 50s and early 60s, I became very good at using Morse code—you know, the art of sending dots and dashes in the form of short and longer bursts of radio energy through the atmosphere, and beyond. I became very good partially out of necessity. You see, as a recent immigrant to the United States, I still had a heavy accent when I spoke English....

CODA: Commenting on “Today, a Grateful Nation Presents Its Highest Military Honor,” Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés reminded us about a black regiment during the Civil War. This is the story of a member of New York City’s all-black 369th Infantry Regiment — the famous “Harlem Blackcats”—who distinguished himself through combat heroism during World War I on a French battlefield. Yesterday,...

UPDATE (BBC): Twenty-one people were killed and 113 injured, said Maharashtra state’s Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan. ================================== Blasts in Mumbai have left 17 dead. Three improvised explosive devices were used. The blasts occured in three crowded locations so getting a body count was clearly the motive. CNN on the blast when they were still not formally saying it was terrorism. A...

Is the burgeoning rivalry between China and the United States destined to worsen the split between North and South Korea? This editorial from South Korea’s Hankyoreh warns that the territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas may put Korean unification even further out of reach than it already is. The Hankyoreh editorial says in part: The question of whether China will support North Korea militarily...

President Obama today presented the second Medal Of Honor awarded to a living recipient for service in the war on terror. During operations in 2008 Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry was leading a team of Rangers on a rare daytime operation in Afghanistan’s Paktia Province. They came under heavy fire and Petry was shot in both legs but he continued to lead his team and helped a wounded comrade to safety. Now you’d...

President Obama has named West Point graduate Brenda Sue Fulton to the Board of Visitors of West Point. The board, which operates under a 1972 law is empowered to “inquire into the morale and discipline, curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, academic methods, and other matters relating to the academy that the board decides to consider.”. It is made up of seven members of Congress...

At a White House ceremony today, Army Ranger Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry will receive the Medal of Honor. He’ll be the fourth soldier to receive that recognition for heroism in the Afghanistan War from President Obama and the second living recipient of the Medal of Honor from the Iraq and Afghan wars, following the award of the Medal to Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta last fall. While, in my opinion, too...

Pakistan is now turning itself into a major issue in the United States on two fronts. The administration has held back on a chunk of funding due to some actions many think are not exactly in keeping with the definition of an ally. And it is losing friends quickly in Congress. The latest news that it is holding the doctor who tried collecting bin Laden DNA will make its position worse on both fronts: Pakistani...

Pakistani frustration and resentment continued to mushroom yesterday, when, due to its displeasure with a lack of Pakistani cooperation, the U.S. announced a cut of $800 million in aid to Islamabad. According to this editorial from Pakistan’s Frontier Post, U.S. aid has brought the country nothing but misery and insecurity, and in any case, amounts to much less than Washington claims. The Frontier Post...

As 46,000 U.S. troops still remain in Iraq, as McCain (who once said that it “would be fine with” him if the U.S. military stayed in Iraq for “a hundred years”) wants as many as 13,000 troops to remain in Iraq, and as our troops continue to be killed there, the new U.S. Secretary of Defense made his first trip to Iraq in that capacity. While Obama has promised to withdraw the remaining troops from Iraq...

Could it be that after years of protecting Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, also known as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, Islamabad may be preparing to prosecute him for providing nuclear technology to rogue states? According to this editorial from Pakistan’s Frontier Post, a letter allegedly passed on by Dr. Khan to a British researcher may be a CIA forgery. If genuine, however, the document...

Has the moment arrived? Is the United States close to defeating Al Qaeda two months after the death of its leader and symbol Osama bin Laden? Saying that Al Qaeda’s end is near is the kind of rhetoric officials have studiously tried to avoid. And many who are pros in intelligence, anti-terrorism and the military weigh their words carefully. But the words of the Obama Administration’s new Secretary...

In what has been cropping up as a pretty consistent narrative from Europeans since President Obama announced that U.S. forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan, Enrique Arias Vega of Spain’s El Semanal writes that after all that America has done for Europe, Europe must step up and fill the security void the U.S. is about to create – or cede the ground to Beijing. For El Semanal, Enrique Arias Vega...

Is China the victim of a campaign mounted by the United States to turn the nations adjacent to the South China Sea against Beijing? According to columnist Liang Fengming of China’s state-run Huanqui, the U.S. is seeking to demonize China by inflaming territorial disputes between China and other states like Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, South Korea and others – which are none of America’s...

At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, just before the Soviets caved in, someone in the Oval Office exclaimed, “We’re eyeball to eyeball, and the other guy just blinked!” Now, as a deadline nears in the debt-ceiling staredown, Bill Clinton evokes that JFK era image and warns “the White House could blink. I hope that won’t happen. I don’t think they should blink.” The former President,...

On previous Independence Days I have expressed my thoughts and feelings about the day’s significance in several forums. As the day of independence of my adopted country, this occasion has always been very special to me. This year, I happened to spend the weeks leading up to this Fourth of July weekend in my native country visiting relatives, enjoying its magnificent natural beauty and variety and admiring...

Are things so dire on the eve of America’s 234th Independence Day, that the United States needs Europe to step in to preserve all that Western civilization holds dear? According to this article from columnist Clemens Wergin of Germany’s Die Welt, after decades of taking a ‘free ride’ on America’s dime, it is time for Europe to fill the security gap while the United States licks...

Are the Muslim uprisings a result of Arab distaste for the United States and Israel? According to this news item from Iran’s state-run Kayhan, Iran’s leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has made the unlikely claim that while most of the Muslim uprisings are against the U.S. and Israel – the uprising in Syria is a plot instigated by the ‘Global Arrogance.’ The news item from...

Is it reasonable to assert, as President Obama did the other day, that, the ‘wave of war is receding’? According to this editorial from Brazil’s Estadao, while the last few years have proven the ‘folly’ of Bush’s ‘war against terrorists,’ President Obama’s belief that the ‘tide of war’ is receding may well turn out to be just as far fetched. The...

Is President Obama’s decision to follow through with plans to withdraw from Afghanistan just a misbegotten election-year ploy? According to columnist Andreas Ruesch of Switzerland’s Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Mr. Obama has sent the Taliban the wrong message at precisely the wrong time, apparently for strictly electoral purposes. For Switzerland’s Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Andreas Ruesch writes in...