Author Archives: WorldWideWeber

Unjinxed

Posted on July 10, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

The kid is home for the summer and she has been attending my Sunday softball games, thereby doubling our cheering section. She was beginning to get a little spooked, though. After starting the season 5-0 before she came home, we dropped … Continue reading →

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Weltschmerz

Posted on July 8, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

The mood evident in a previous post has not lifted, and a phrase has started rattling around in my head: “The world is too much with us …” Where is that from? Not Shakespeare. Shelley? Coleridge? Keats? No need to … Continue reading →

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FOIA

Posted on July 4, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

Happy Birthday, Freedom of Information Act! Forty years old today. Having just watched Syriana, which purports to show how the world really works, I can say I fully endorse the headline of Jimmy Carter’s commentary: We Need Fewer Secrets. And … Continue reading →

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Appreciation

Posted on July 4, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

Happy 4th of July, Americans! Let’s be as independent as we can, each of us individually. Love our country, but not just our country. Be curious, in every sense (eccentricity is good). If we don’t care about the rest of … Continue reading →

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Ouch

Posted on July 3, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

How they see us from across the pond: As Americans prepare to celebrate the 230th anniversary of their independence tomorrow, [a YouGov] poll found that only 12 per cent of Britons trust them to act wisely on the global stage. This is half the … Continue reading →

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Prediction

Posted on July 3, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

In a recent documentary shown on German television entitled “Russia in a Vise,” and in a book of the same name, the German military expert and journalist Peter Scholl-Latour expresses his certainty that Russia will soon cease to exist as … Continue reading →

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………

Posted on June 30, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

[The world continues to roil around him, and yet he remains mum. Rainfall of Biblical proportions for eight days straight, a seemingly momentous Supreme Court ruling purportedly putting a vagrant administration in its place, ludicrous Congressional gassing about flag burning (almost … Continue reading →

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Triumphalism

Posted on June 29, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

Stephen Cohen has written an excellent piece on America’s wrong-headed (and dangerous) approach to Russia, well worth reading in its entirety. I’ll cut to the chase and quote the end. After noting areas in which Russia is still capable of … Continue reading →

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Clarification

Posted on June 23, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

Yesterday I asked a quasi-rhetorical question: … but would this administration be smart enough to accept the invitation to depart? This obviously assumes the US has the best interests of Iraqis at heart. There are several competing assumptions: The Iraq invasion … Continue reading →

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Glimmers

Posted on June 22, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

… of hope: Former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage has told an Australian newspaper that he believes the Iraqis will soon ask the US to leave their country. This would certainly moot the fatuous “cut and run” talk—but would … Continue reading →

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