This week marks the 63rd anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and the beginning of the end of World War 2. As is usually the case every year, we have the stories of those who attack the incident as a ‘war crime’. These historical revisionists miss (or ignore) the fact that they are looking back with hindsight and applying modern attitudes to historical times. These revisionists...

There are some people in this world who think President Bush has been a great president – even in France. One such person is French historian Alexandre Adler – also known as France’s foremost neocon. In this article, Adler makes a very convincing case for President Bush’s legacy and his ‘unparalleled service to Europe.’ In regard to Iraq, Adler writes in part: “At a...

In his Monday New York Times column, Bill Kristol gives the McCain campaign some advice on “How to Pick a V.P.” Kristol discusses four “competing theories” in the McCain camp on this weighty issue. They are: 1. We’re going to defeat Obama straight up. 2. We need to accentuate Obama’s key vulnerability — inexperience. 3. Don’t fight the public desire for change; co-opt it. 4. The public is really...

In this first Romanian translation from WORLDMEETS.US about Barack Obama, Adrian Deoanca of Romania’s Cotidianul newspaper gives his reckoning of why Europeans are so taken by the young senator. Deoanca writes in part: “Barack Obama was greeted like a superstar in Berlin. He wasn’t acclaimed for his indisputable talent at oratory, but because he’s the antithesis of the much-derided current...

Now that Barack Obama’s world tour is over – how do Gulf Arabs see the junior senator from Illinois? While some commentary in the Arab world has been less than glowing, at least in the Persian Gulf States, hope for an Obama presidency remains high. For the Al-Ittihad newspaper of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed Khalfan Aloasi writes in part: “All people, especially in the Arab and Islamic...

Barack Obama avoided going there and John McCain has trouble remembering where it is, but Pakistan is the hottest spot in the Mideast with today’s news that Islamabad’s intelligence agency, the ISI, helped plan last month’s bombing of the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. A senior US official tells the Washington Post about “significant” evidence that ISI members...

Will what many are calling the first negative campaign ad against against Barack Obama backfire on John McCain? Patrik Etschmayer writes for Switzerland’s Nachrichten newspaper: “John McCain is one who proudly boasts (like many other politicians) of his ignorance about the Internet and e-mail. Its likely that McCain has never seen the videos produced by his staff on a computer monitor – but...

According to a report released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday it appears that the military ignored reports of dangerous conditions in the showers at a military facility in Iraq. In February of 2007 the contracting firm of Kellogg, Brown and Root found “several safety issues concerning the improper grounding of electrical devices. In July of 2007 Sgt. Justin Hummer...

This week marks the 63rd anniversary of one of the more unfortunate events in the history of the United States Navy. In July of 1945 the USS Indianapolis, a Navy Cruiser set sail from San Francisco to Tinian Island where it dropped off the components for the atomic bomb that would end the war. The ship then stopped in Guam to drop off some crew members and then headed for home. On July 30, 1945 she was torpedoed...

As we’ve seen over the past week, the global reaction to Barack Obama’s world tour has been largely positive – if not at times skeptical. But particularly in the Arab world – disappointment is the dominant theme. Writing for Le Quotidien-Oran of Algeria, K. Selim focuses in on Obama’s 45-minute visit to the Palestinians, and the conclusions many Arabs are drawing from it. Describing...

It seems – as we saw yesterday at WORLDMEETS.US with the editorial translations of a number of regional German newspapers – that after an orgy of Obama-mania in Berlin, Germans are having some second thoughts. Perhaps, this editorial from Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland ponders, a President John McCain would be easier to refuse when he seeks more German troops for southern Afghanistan? The...

It seems that Petraeus doesn’t accept the idea of a timeline. You can read his reasons here. Right-wingers, who have nothing else but the war to pin their hopes on, will tell you that this ‘proves’ that McCain knows more about war than Obama. I don’t think it proves anything at all. My question remains: what specific conditions, according to the candidates, must be met in order for...

In this Guest Voice post, Michael Winship, senior writer of the weekly public affairs program Bill Moyers Journal looks at torture and the truth. Guest Voice posts do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Moderate Voice or its writers. The Company We Keep by Michael Winship At one point during the five and a half years John McCain spent as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, he was tortured and beaten...

As someone who is concerned about government accountability, I admire exceedingly Alan Grayson, now running for our 8th District here in Florida (see here and here). He’s an attorney (see the Vanity Fair article about him here) who has aggressively and relentlessly pursued corrupt defense contractors/war profiteers in Iraq. Matt Stoller, who met and interviewed him, writes: Because of his track record...

Back in June, as I prepared to go on my annual vacation, I was invited out by some friends to a local watering hole for drinks and a few games of pool. Despite years of experience, good times with good friends stretched the evening out and the phrase “a few” rapidly disappeared from descriptions of both billiards and beverages. At one point I found myself engaged in a heated discussion – let’s be honest...

So how are people in other parts of the world, for example Brazil, interpreting Barack Obama’s global tour. And is this trip – as John McCain charges – simply an ‘electoral caravan’ on the part of Obama’s campaign? And if it is, does it matter? William Waack writes for Brazil’s leading daily: “John McCain is right when he says that his adversary is only committed...

(Author’s Note: In the excitement created by Obama’s overseas travels and successes, we may be overlooking two important anniversaries this week, and two different views by the presidential candidates on one of the “anniversary” issues…Their opinions at the end of the post) July 26 marks the 60th anniversary of the desegregation of our armed forces. It was 15 years ago when President...

Obama’s getting called out for embellishing because of a misstatement to the Israeli Prime Minister.  Responding to an Israeli reporter’s question Wednesday on his commitment to protect the Jewish state, Barack Obama pointed to a bill “we passed” in the U.S. Senate Banking Committee that tightens sanctions and authorizes divestment from Iran. “My committee,” he called it. It’s a...

The debate in Germany goes on! Is Berlin’s Victory Tower a fitting place for Barack Obama’s long-awaited speech on transatlantic relations? Writing for Germany’s Frankfurter Rundschau, Eckart D. Stratenschulte suggests that since the Brandenburg Gate has been counted out, the Victory Tower may be even better: “With the Victory Column, another good place has been found for his appearance....

While Europe continues in its paroxysm of excitement over the impending visit of Senator Barack Obama, some on the Old Continent have begun to ask what will happen after his European triumph. Philippe Gelie of Le Figaro writes in part: “While Barack Obama has embarked on a tour of the Middle East and Europe, the international community is eager to learn the new direction that the Democratic candidate...