Blog

My running commentary on events: local, national, and international. Areas of special interest include Israel, Iraq, and dissidents in the Muslim world.

‘Game Change’ expected to reinforce anti-Palin bias; scare women away from politics

March 10, 2012

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Just came across this Christian Science Monitor piece analyzing the portrayal of Sarah Palin in HBO’s “Game Change,” the film about the 2008 Republican presidential campaign that aired Saturday night. I missed it,...

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AIPAC Attendees Rally Behind Bibi

March 8, 2012

From The Algemeiner

by HEATHER ROBINSON

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Reactions to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Monday night in which he declared that, “[a]s Prime Minister of Israel I will never let my people live in the...

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Jews Look for Good News: Reaction to Obama at AIPAC

March 6, 2012

From The Algemeiner

by HEATHER ROBINSON

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Attendees’ reactions to President Barack Obama’s speech yesterday at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference ranged, among the delegates with whom this reporter spoke, from mixed to strongly...

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Jews look for good news: reaction to Obama at AIPAC

March 5, 2012

Attendees’ reactions to President Barack Obama’s speech yesterday at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference ranged, among the delegates with whom this reporter spoke, from mixed to strongly...

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Andrew Breitbart, Rest in (Big) Peace

March 1, 2012

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Saddened to hear about the death today of conservative editor and blogger Andrew Breitbart at just 43. Terrible how men, even young men, can go suddenly and unexpectedly due to heart trouble, but they sometimes do.

A gutsy intellectual warrior...

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Ray Kelly attends CSP award lunch today, receives praise for controversial intelligence gathering

February 28, 2012

Today the Center for Security Policy held its Mightier Pen Award in midtown Manhattan and yours truly was in attendance. Will write more soon, but for now: one highlight was the appearance of NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who has been...

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Trial of pro-democracy workers set to begin tomorrow in Egypt

February 25, 2012

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Tomorrow the trial of 43 civil society workers–including 16 Americans–is set to begin in Egypt.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “[t]he 43 employees will be tried on charges of illegally operating ...

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Egyptian dissident Cynthia Farahat: America, be the strong horse

February 15, 2012

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Today Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood announced it backs the country’s military government in its fight against the work of pro-democracy groups there.

Presumably the Brotherhood also supports the dictatorship’s detention and planned...

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Mithal al Alusi survives assassination attempt last night in Iraq

February 14, 2012

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February 14–Human rights advocate and former Iraqi Parliamentarian Mithal al Alusi contacted me by...

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Israel Can’t Rely on President Obama for Support in Iran Strike

February 8, 2012

From Algemeiner

by HEATHER ROBINSON

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By some accounts, most American Jews are planning to vote for President Barack Obama in 2012.  At the same time, Democrats are mounting a massive public relations effort to shore up Jewish support in advance of the election.

At town meetings,...

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