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GOOD READS

What turned Brent Scowcroft against the Bush Administration?

Moral Hazard
How conservatism encourages nuclear terrorism.

by Robert McNamara

It is time for the United States to cease its Cold War-style reliance on nuclear weapons as a foreign-policy tool. Current U.S. nuclear weapons policy is immoral, illegal, militarily unnecessary, and dreadfully dangerous.

How Bush Won

Is it really the case that, as the British tabloid the Daily Mirror famously put it, nearly 60 million Americans were simply too “dumb” to understand the implications of reelecting George W. Bush? It seems so...But as appealing as it is, folly does not constitute a sufficient explanation of the 2004 election.

Inside the Committee that Runs the World

September 11, 2001, was a catalytic event that revealed the core character of the Bush administration’s national security team. As rival factions fought for the president’s ear, the transformative ideals espoused by the neocons gained ascendancy—triggering a rift that has split the Republican foreign-policy establishment to its foundations.

The Right's Assault on Kofi Annan

The neoconservative and paleoconservative assault on Kofi Annan and the UN has been like a slightly slower version of the Swift Boat veterans' campaign against Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Listening to the cable pundits, you would never suspect that there is no proof at this point that Annan, or indeed anyone else at the UN, did anything wrong.

Think Again: Bush’s Foreign Policy

Not since Richard Nixon’s conduct of the war in Vietnam has a U.S. president’s foreign policy so polarized the country—and the world. Yet as controversial as George W. Bush’s policies have been, they are not as radical a departure from his predecessors as both critics and supporters proclaim. Instead, the real weaknesses of the president’s foreign policy lie in its contradictions: Blinded by moral clarity and hamstrung by its enormous military strength, the United States needs to rebalance means with ends if it wants to forge a truly effective grand strategy.

Will Iran Be Next?

Soldiers, spies, and diplomats conduct a classic Pentagon war game—with sobering results.

The Separate Realities of Bush and Kerry Supporters
A PIPA/KN Study

Bush's Lost Year

By deciding to invade Iraq, the Bush Administration decided not to do many other things: not to reconstruct Afghanistan, not to deal with North Korea and Iran, and not to wage an effective war on terror. An inventory of opportunities lost.

Iran: Time for a New Approach

Council on Foreign Relations

The lack of sustained engagement with Iran harms American interests, and direct dialogue with Tehran on specific areas of mutual concern should be pursued.

The Misunderestimated Man: How Bush chose stupidity

As the president says, we misunderestimate him. He was not born stupid. He chose stupidity. Bush may look like a well-meaning dolt. On consideration, he's something far more dangerous: a dedicated fool.

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GOOD STUFF

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

[5:35 PM] Thomas Friedman asks what's going to happen to oil prices during war with Iraq. That's something that hasn't been discussed much amidst all the strategic planning that may or may not be taking place over how to oust Saddam Hussein.

Friedman writes

Don't kid yourself: If prices skyrocket because of a war in the Persian Gulf, Venezuela, Iran, Nigeria and others will cut back their output and keep prices high to milk the moment for all it's worth.

Really? Isn't OPEC a cartel. And isn't that what cartels do -- fix prices. Are we just supposed to be shocked that cartels control prices on products they monopolize in order to maximize revenue? Some interesting ideas nonetheless.

# posted 5:40 PM

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