“Tough Talk” Makes Obama & U.S. Look Weak
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on June 16th, 2010 4:32 am by HL
“Tough Talk” Makes Obama & U.S. Look Weak
Anne Applebaum, Slate
In the Gulf of Mexico, plumes of black oil are gushing into the ocean, coating the wings of seabirds, poisoning shellfish, sending tar balls rolling onto white Florida beaches. It is an ecological disaster. It is an economic nightmare. And there is absolutely nothing that the American president can do about it. Nothing at all.Here is the hard truth: The U.S. government does not possess a secret method for capping oil leaks. Even the combined wisdom of the Obama inner circle—all those Harvard economists, silver-tongued spin doctors, and hardened politicos—cannot…
The Ugly Truth of Mideast Peace
Walter Russell Mead, American Interest
Both the Israelis and the Palestinians have a lot to answer for in their 100-year-plus conflict over some of the most miserable and hardscrabble but somehow beloved land on the face of the earth. But the sad and sorry truth is that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are really responsible for the mess that they are both in "” and neither party can solve the problem on its own.We outsiders love to blame those two squabbling peoples for their long and vicious war. These days most outsiders blame the Israelis "” stronger, richer, mostly descended…
