The Hillary and Bernie Show

I didn’t expect much enlightenment from last night’s debate and I didn’t get any. I was a bit disturbed to see the tone become noticeably sharper than in probably all the previous debates, and I thought the weight of the ...

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Realism and Revolution

Bernie Sanders’ win in Wisconsin shows that his candidacy is very much alive and kicking. That, in my opinion, is a good thing, because Sanders’ success demonstrates that large numbers of Americans want to stop this country’s drift toward plutocracy.   ...

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Terrorism in Perspective

I have argued that Americans’ perception of the terrorist threat tends to be greatly inflated.   Our fear of terrorism is way out of proportion to the real danger it poses. Political scientist Stephen Walt has expanded on this theme in a ...

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The Candidates go to AIPAC

The Brussels attacks today came one day after the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) held its annual meeting, dutifully attended by all but one of the 2016 candidates for president of the United States. What’s the link between the ...

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Super Tuesday 2

So, those of us who don’t believe in fairies can all agree: the 2016 presidential election will be a matchup of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. That Clinton will win the Democratic nomination is now about as certain as anything ...

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Notes on the Campaign

It’s a while since I’ve blogged about the presidential campaign, even though lots has been happening. Here are just a few notes on how I see things at this point. On the Republican side, the odds are against the late-coming, ...

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Israel/Palestine: One State or Two?

A few weeks ago the NY Times’ Thomas Friedman, surveying the mess that is the Middle East today and reflecting on US policymakers’ proclivity for wishful thinking, dropped a bombshell: Start with Israel. The peace process is dead. It’s over, ...

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Scalia

A chess tournament this Presidents’ Day weekend kept me busy, so I didn’t have the time to comment on the death of Antonin Scalia, but I can’t let this occasion pass without a post. Scalia was a major actor in ...

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Campaign Follies

I wasn’t intending to watch Saturday night’s GOP candidates’ debate, but I had taped it just in case.   After seeing and reading some of the commentary, I broke down: how could anyone to the left of John Kasich not delight ...

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Iowa

For the Democrats, a tie vote, which means nothing changes. Sanders remains a viable candidate, and will continue to keep Clinton busy even after his win in New Hampshire, but Clinton will win the nomination. I continue to think that ...

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