The Lightest of a Succession of CalamitiesOn September 10, 1814, John Quincy Adams, son of the second president of the United States and destined to become its fifth, the most accomplished American diplomat of his generation (and perhaps the most able in American history), conversant in half a dozen languages, was, as usual, dissatisfied with […]

One of the commenters in my last post criticized me for misunderstanding the situation in Egypt. I stood accused of exaggerating the revolutionary reality of the post-Mubarak period. Apparently, this commentator is unaware of what I have written about Egypt since January of last year. So let me briefly repeat my original analysis from 18 […]

On June 13, 2012, The Boston Globe gave ample space to the coverage of an event that took place in federal court here. Judge Douglas Woodlock sentenced Catherine Greig to eight years in prison for the crime of harboring a fugitive. The fugitive is James “Whitey” Bulger, who was once a prominent figure in the […]

George Monbiot, one of the world’s leading environmentalists and a writer for the left-leaning British Guardian has an assessment of the Rio+20 environmental summit that tracks pretty closely with my own. Writes the anguished Monbiot, We know it’s rubbish, but we allow our hopes to be raised, only to witness 190 nations arguing through the […]

For most Americans, the so-called drone war is a no-brainer: maximum lethality delivered at low economic cost, with zero risk to American personnel—all buffered by the virtual-reality nature of a delivery system that keeps the consequences safely out of sight. That explains why a stunning 83 percent of the country supports President Barack Obama’s use […]

Only over the past decade or two have Americans come to view the European Union as the principal symbolic organization of the continent. Throughout the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance established in 1949 to balance against the communists, received most of our attention. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, however, […]

Last week we marked a major milestone here at the stately Mead manor in the glamorous and exclusive residential borough of Queens. I reached the grand old age of 50.I see a lot of you out there using your pencils and calculators… 2012 take away 1952: that doesn’t leave fifty, you are saying.  That’s sixty, […]

Yesterday’s events in Egypt are more of the same, but in this case really something new. The dissolution of the parliament confirms beyond all doubt the contention made here in February 2010 that the Egyptian military would not cede power to civilians if it could at all help it. The dissolution, combined with a court […]

Generals and DOD officials must be in the midst of a panicked meeting within the inner sanctum of the Pentagon, because a crack team of Russian investigative journalists have just exposed the darkest and most potent secret of American world power: sex.Read and learn: Ever since the end of World War 2, America has controlled […]

The following is an excerpt from Colin Powell’s book It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership Leaders must be problem solvers. If you are not solving problems, you are no longer leading. Hopefully the problems you are solving relate to you, your organization, or your own interests. That is not always the case. Sometimes […]