Posted by lex on August 30, 2004
From time to time, I’ve had the occasion to discuss why I won’t argue America’s interaction with the world from a zero-sum, morally neutral point of view.
Category Archives: International Affairs
A Good Op-Ed on the Mattis Resignation
Was in the WSJ today. According to them, James Mattis resigned after being blindsided by President Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria.
James Mattis is one of those men whose leadership style should be emulated by those wanting to be great leaders. Lex, who I think was also one of those rare leaders, admired James Mattis with an anecdote.
Filed under International Affairs, Politics
Energy Independence
The 1973 OPEC Oil Embargo
For the last 50 years, we have had an unhealthy dependence for oil on the Middle East. Sometimes our interests have aligned, other times not. Countries act from their own interests.
In 1973, OPEC – the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries – had simply decided to not sell us oil, and we had a huge dependency on them *. I was trying to find the percentage and could not readily find it, although 40% seems to come to mind.
Filed under History, International Affairs, Other Stuff, Politics and Culture, Remember
Begging the Question
By lex, on February 20th, 2011
Boston University professor Andrew Bacevich is no fan of the America’s decadal War on Terror. And the man has his reasons, personal and professional. But the author of “Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War,” and “The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism,” may be pressing his point too firmly in his latest Op-Ed ** in the LA Times, concerning the “Arab spring”:
Just Kidding
By lex, on October 16th, 2010
Looks like, after being left to dangle for the length of a book, Dutch politician Geert Wilders is going to get a pass:
Asymmetries
By lex, on June 8th, 2010
North Korea torpedoes a South Korean corvette in a clear act of war and all the world stand’s a-tiptoe, hoping not to offend the nuclear armed nuthouse. Israel enforces a blockade against an existential foe and is drawn reluctantly into a confrontation with agents provocateurs, leaving nine of them as “martyrs” to their cause, and all the world is in uproar.
Strange Charity
Posted by Lex, on June 3, 2010
IHH, the Turkish NGO that sent “peace” activists armed with clubs to Gaza, has some strange antecedents according to Bill Gertz:
