Reports today that Russian forces have left South Ossetia and are moving toward Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi are troubling to say the very least. If Russia does indeed try to take the entire country by force and overthrow the government, we’re looking at a brand new geo-political ball game. Now, there’s no indication that permanently [...]

If you haven’t seen Frontline’s documentary about how we got into Iraq and how it all went wrong, you need to. It’s probably the most well researched piece I’ve seen so far, and the interviews with insiders are simply stunning. Many saw this train wreck coming, but Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld just didn’t listen.
In [...]

With Paul Wolfowitz leaving the World Bank at the end of June, President Bush has promised to move quickly on naming a successor. But who?
Among those mentioned as a possible replacement for Wolfowitz were former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who was Bush’s former trade chief; Robert Kimmitt, the No. 2 at the [...]

I’ve been posting about the benefits of nuclear power for some time now, and today I read a story about U.N. scientists proposing that we embrace nuclear power as a way to combat global warming. Not only that, we’re talking about cleaner air and cheaper energy for all.
From the Daily Mail:
More than 2,000 scientists have [...]

Today, the IAEA reported that Iran, in open defiance of the UN, is steadily expanding â€â€? rather than freezing â€â€? its efforts to enrich uranium. Worse still, according to David Albright (a former inspector who is now president of the Institute for Science and International Security), they are installing centrifuges “faster than was commonly [...]

Ethicist Peter Singer has an interesting article in the New York Times magazine on charitable giving. It’s largely a discussion of “how much should one give?” and makes the argument that it is perfectly defensible, on moral grounds, to tax the rich more heavily than the poor and to expect them to donate more.
I’ve been [...]

James Traub, one of my favorite writers, has a piece in this Sunday’s New York Times on Iraq and civil wars in general. He quotes James Fearon, a Stanford University expert on civil conflicts, who ticks off the death toll, the massive refugee flows, the major players, and says “by any reasonable definition, Iraq is [...]

It took me awhile, but I’ve read the entire ISG report.
My detailed thoughts are over at Midtopia. Here at Donklephant I’ll do the executive summary.
There’s nothing earth-shattering in their analysis of the current situation, and nothing paradigm-shifting in their proposed solutions. But both are very solid, very reasonable. I came away with two impressions:
1. The [...]

When NewsMax is reporting that John Bolton is dead in the water, you know it’s pretty much a done deal.
Key ‘graph:
There had been indications that Bolton might win Senate confirmation after the election when several key votes might be open to favoring Bolton. But the GOP’s apparent loss of the Senate has doomed that hope.
The [...]

Ooooh, Mr. Bush calls the North Korean nuclear test “unacceptable.” Which is just what he called it before they carried out the test.
Unacceptable. What is that, the magic word, Mr. President? Unacceptable?
It’s a pity the Japanese didn’t think of this in 1945. If only they had announced that nuclear weapons were “unacceptable.”
And now we’re [...]

Okay, a lot of people won’t take the UN’s word for anything. But in this case, they seem to have a point.
U.N. inspectors investigating Iran’s nuclear program angrily complained to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman yesterday about a recent House committee report on Iran’s capabilities, calling parts of the document “outrageous and [...]

Yesterday Israel lifted its air blockade of Lebanon. Today, it lifted its naval blockade.
Israel turned over monitoring of Lebanon’s coast to Italian naval vessels, who “will continue to enforce the international embargo against the supply of armaments to Hezbollah,” Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said.
It also announced it would withdraw completely from Lebanon within two [...]

A good editorial from Jerusalem Post today.
I’ll let it speak for itself:
There is a good reason that Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has accepted UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which sets the terms for a cease-fire between his jihad army and the State of Israel.
The resolution represents a near-total victory for Hizbullah and its state sponsors [...]

A revised US-France ceasefire proposal has been submitted to the UN Security Council. A vote is expected later today.
It looks pretty good, to my mind.
sources close to the negotiations said the deal would create a 400-square-mile zone inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militia would be excluded.
Under the draft resolution, the number of U.N. troops in [...]

I’ve avoided writing about the Israel-Hezbollah conflict for weeks, because when I finally did tackle it I wanted to do it right. I didn’t want to simply assess blame — as with anything in the Middle East, there’s plenty to go around. I didn’t want simply to take sides — our interests are not fully [...]

My name is Daniel DiRito and I have been blogging at www.thoughttheater.com since March. While I have been a frequent commenter here at Donklephant, this is my first posting. I want to thank Justin for the invitation and the opportunity. Hopefully, my diverse curiosities will offer you, the readers, some additional perspectives on prior topics [...]

U.N. decides it should protect people after all.

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council affirmed for the first time Friday that the international community has a responsibility to protect civilians from genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing when national governments fail to do so.
A resolution, which was unanimously approved by the 15-nation council, endorsed [...]

From Newsweek:
DICKEY: You’ve said you’re running out of patience with Iran. What does that mean?
ELBARADEI: For the last three years we have been doing intensive verification in Iran, and even after three years I am not yet in a position to make a judgment on the peaceful nature of the [nuclear] program. We still need [...]

Damn this War On Terrorism! Damn it to hell!!!
From the AP:
The ban covers exports from the major sturgeon-exporting countries, said CITES, which regulates legal caviar exports through an international system of permits.
The Caspian Sea produces the sturgeons said to be the world’s highest quality. The countries bordering the Caspian Sea account for 80 percent of [...]

A mini-blogburst sparked by Dr. Demarche illuminates the term “world community.” He asks whether the term has any real meaning and what is the role of the United Nations and the United States in such a place. I’m afraid my modest contribution doesn’t reveal much except the disordered condition of my own thoughts about it. [...]