This photo, with me on the left, dates from happier times — at least for me.  This shot was taken in 1984 or so when the man in the middle, Father Miguel D’Escoto, was serving as foreign minister for the Nicaraguan Sandinista government (the woman on the right is one of his nieces).  Despite the [...]

The Libyan revolutionary forces, under western air cover, are now rapidly pushing back Gaddafi’s lines and advancing westward. The momentum has once again shifted and there are few betting on the regime’s future. Would the Left actually be disappointed if the intervention was swift and successful and not a prolonged quagmire that embroiled U.S. imperialism [...]

The footage being carried by CNN and others of how an alleged rape victim is manhandled and brazenly kidnapped by the thugs in the Libyan security forces tells you all you want to know about the character of the regime. In any civilized country in the world, the outburst of this woman would have not [...]

Marxist scholar Gilbert Achcar grew up in Lebanon, and is currently Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London.  Some of the argument contained in this piece is shoe-horned into some rigid ideological boxes, but the core of his thesis is a potent rebuke to the knee-jerk “no [...]

An excellent and lucid piece. I think Judis hits all the right points including questions about consultation with Congress. I think that an important and not insignificant issue. Unfortunately, for the last 30 years BOTH political parties have totally punted on exercising congressional power over the waging of war. That’s not an excuse for Obama’s [...]

If you want to oppose the military intervention in Libya because you think a) the U.S. should never intervene anywhere under any conditions b)  this intervention will lead to a quagmire ground war with U.S. troops c) you are a simple isolationist d) you don’t give a flip about Arabs d) we cannot afford this [...]

Michael Moore accuses Barack Obama of acting like George w. Bush.  Danlel Ellsberg gets himself arrested outside the White House. Others on the left waffle and shuffle and — in my view– abstain on the moral issue underlying the U.S. and allied attack on Gaddafi. (Though it isn’t clear if Ellsberg, whom I generally respect, [...]

It’s ok if a psychopath like Charlie Sheen yells out “winning” when he’s really losing. It’s not OK, if the rest of us do it.  Sorry, I have to depart from former Nation colleague John Nichols’ deeply rose-tinted account of what happened in Wisconsin as some sort of victory. I followed the Saturday rally in [...]

What turbulent times these. Revolutionary times.  From Cairo to Benghazi to Madison. ( the latter reference a blatant plug for my daughter Natasha’s report for The Atlantic from the front lines in Wisconsin). I find myself exhausted from straining to consume and process all the information pouring in and quite literally around the clock. My [...]