Two weeks’ respite on the North Atlantic Canadian shore, and I return to find no let-up in the onslaught of news here in the US. New crises have emerged alongside lingering issues that seem only to have intensified these past two weeks: the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban; the draconian anti-abortion law in Texas; … Continue reading The Next Afghan Crisis
Afghanistan’s Fall
The precipitous fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban is a painful lesson for US foreign policy and, by extension, for all Americans. While the abject failure of the Biden administration’s planning and implementation of the US withdrawal cannot be overlooked or excused, the first lesson we must learn is how the roots of this tragedy … Continue reading Afghanistan’s Fall
More Than a Shred of Good News
In the midst of terrible headlines—wildfires in Turkey, Greece, Siberia and California (not to mention a devastating report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Taliban successes in Afghanistan, sexual impropriety in New York leading to Governor Cuomo’s resignation, the ravaging Covid-19 Delta variant, and the increasingly desperate struggle to ensure voting rights—I saw … Continue reading More Than a Shred of Good News
Et Tu, Andrew?
The news this week about extensive and repeated sexual improprieties on the part of New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo is yet another sad chapter in the annals of men of influence who wield their power in wholly unacceptable ways, attacking women (often on their own teams!) and perpetuating a stereotype that should have been discredited … Continue reading Et Tu, Andrew?
Riveting Testimony
What are we to make of the riveting testimony on the first day of hearings by the House Select Committee investigating events leading up to the insurrection on the Capitol on January 6? Comments delivered by four DC police officers, reminded us once again of the violence on that fateful day and how close we … Continue reading Riveting Testimony