Can it get better — on January 8, 2019Last week’s column portrayed 2019 as more Hobbesi an than Panglossian with the Trumpian swamp deteriorating into a more dangerous quagmire. The other side of this coin also needs to be examined. What can be done to make things better? The first is to prevent an unnecessary arms race and military competition with Russia. The […]
Can it get worse? on December 30, 2018As 2019 looms, for the United States, can the new year be any worse than the final weeks of 2018? Donald Trump promised to drain the Washington swamp. Instead, he has turned his administration and the White House into the mother of all swamps where incompetence has become the common denominator and chaos the dominant […]
Xmas past, present and future on December 28, 2018Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol’s ghosts of past, present and future Christmases have regularly appeared in this column at this time of year. If the ghosts embodied geostrategic spirits, this is what should haunt us. The question is whether or not the Ebeneezer Scrooges who lead us will be as chastened and transformed by these visitations […]
Trump’s M problems on December 23, 2018At a time when much of America’s political dialogue is determined by sound bites and tweets, Donald Trump’s difficulties could be summarized as presidential M-Problems. Internationally, the Western alliance is being shaken by the tenuous toeholds on power of the Big Three M’s: UK Prime Minister Theresa May; Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel; and France’s President […]
The shape of things to come: 2084 and an AI world on December 3, 2018Technologists and political scientists are describing the shape of things to come in terms of a “cognitive age” in which Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deep and machine learning will create a societal transformation equal to or surpassing the effects of the industrial and information revolutions. In this revolution, information and data will become the new […]
Can America cope with a lot of ruin in an era of twitter? on November 27, 2018Compared with much of the last century, for America, the world is less dangerous and unstable. Yet, in an age of pernicious tweet fueled politics, how much ruin can this nation endure? One wonders America and Americans face a profound paradox. Compared with the past, today’s challenges and dangers arguably are not existential and in […]
When letter bombs mattered on November 5, 2018Letter bombs are not new instruments of terror and violence. In April and June 1919, about three dozen letter bombs were mailed to prominent Americans. Two people were killed and one injured. Yet, in the aftermath, the nation panicked. Then Attorney General A Mitchell Palmer ordered “raids” to apprehend the perpetrators, raids that would bear […]
Worse than a cold war with China on October 24, 2018If the tensions between the United States and China truly constituted a new ‘Cold War’ as many pundits are asserting, the US would be far better off. The US won the last Cold War. But in precipitating a confrontation with China, the US is starting a war it cannot win and could easily lose. The […]
The MBS-Khashoggi defense: of course we did it on October 15, 2018Suppose incontrovertible evidence proved that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) ordered the detention, rendition and murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. The question is not only what America and others will do. A more interesting question is how will MBS react. Currently, he and the Saudis are fiercely denying any involvement with […]
Temperament and character: unintended consequences on October 10, 2018Judge Brett Kavanaugh is now, Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, confirmed 50-48 by a highly fractured and polarized Republican Senate. The ramifications and consequences of this confirmation will not be settled, possibly for years. How the mid-term elections will be affected by this spectacle will be determined only after November 6. And it is […]