Monthly Archives: July 2006

July 23, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Delayed-Blogging Miss Universe

No live-blogging this year, as we have house guests–my youngest brother, the Rocket Prof, and his family. But, through the miracle of Tivo, we preserved the pageant finale to watch after dinner. The initial impression is that this was an evening of upsets. A number of the betting favorites didn’t make the top twenty, while several underdogs broke through. The big shocker was that Miss Australia, the betting favorite just »
July 23, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

A modest proposal

Our friend Brian Kennedy of the Claremont Institute laments the “modest” nature of our missile defense system. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration which by relying on diplomacy rather than action ensured that North Korea would succeed in going nuclear, also opposed the development of a missile defense system with which to cope with North Korean and other missiles. As Kennedy notes, “only after intense pressure in 1998 by congressional Republicans did »
July 23, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Putting Israel on the clock

The current fighting in the Middle East has put the American left, and other accommodationists, in a difficult position. Ordinary Americans of all political persuasions understand that a terrorist organization that has killed Americans is attacking one of our allies. Accordingly, most of the Bush-haters I know, Jew and non-Jew, see no reason to stand in the way of an Israeli response that offers the possibility of inflicting a complete »
July 23, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Let’s watch three

One of the best things about blogging is meeting readers. What’s even better is when readers provide us with perks. On Friday, reader Paul Seeley, whom I’d never met, took me and our mutual friend Nate Silver to see his beloved Cubs take on the Washington Nationals at RFK. As a bonus, Paul turned out to be an encyclopedia of knowledge about the Cubs, past and present. Thus, I had »
July 23, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Welcome to Hezbollah land

The must-read column on the war today is Amir Taheri’s long Times of London guide to Hezbollah land: “God’s army has plans to run the whole Middle East.” (Thanks to Andrew McCarthy and NRO’s Corner.) »
July 23, 2006 — Scott Johnson

The temptation to think

John McLaughlin spent his professional career in the Central Intelligence Agency over a period of 32 years, rising to the position of deputy director from 2000 to 2004. He served as acting director of the agency from George Tenet’s resignation until Porter Goss’s confirmation as Tenet’s successor. McLaughlin himself resigned shortly thereafter in opposition to Goss’s efforts to stop the agency’s persistent efforts to undermine administration foreign policy. In today’s »
July 23, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Podcasting Lenanon

In the second hour of our radio yesterday, we interviewed Austin Bay for two segments on Lebanon. As always, Austin’s knowledge of military strategy, tactics and history makes for a fascinating conversation. We also awarded our coveted Loon of the Week prize–“Give Peace A Chance”–and wrapped up the hour, following more conversation about the Middle East, by honoring dual Gatekeepers of the Week. You may be tempted to hum one »
July 22, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

The bad news for Romney reconsidered

On July 3, 2006, the Los Angeles Times ran a story called “A Mormon for President, Voters Balk.” The story was based on an LA Times/Bloomberg poll in which, according to the Times’ account, “thirty-seven percent of those questioned said they would not vote for a Mormon presidential candidate.” Naturally, the focus of the story was on the implications for Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy. The Times suggested that the results »
July 22, 2006 — John Hinderaker

The Excitement Mounts

The finale of the Miss Universe pageant is tomorrow night. The tension has been building for some time now, and the betting field is wide open. The current odds are here; click to enlarge: The favorites have bounced around some, but it’s mostly the same group: Miss Canada, Miss Colombia, Miss Australia, Switzerland, Bolivia, Mexico, Iceland. The biggest change has been the rise of Miss Australia, who has bounced back »
July 22, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Is Israel losing?

Ralph Peters thinks so. And while this view strikes me as premature, the following I think is true: (1) Israel will lose if it does not push Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon and (2) Israel probably cannot push Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon without a large-scale military ground effort. More generally, I believe that Israel cannot prevail against its enemies if it is unwilling either to occupy problematic territory such »
July 22, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Drive, he said

Rick Moran writes: Daily Star of Lebanon reports on an interview Nasrallah gave to al-Jazeera that was ignored by the media here in this country but that reveals that the Hizbullah leader believes he is in the drivers seat in Lebanon – not the government. My take is here. Not good for Israel. Not good for any International Force constituted to keep the peace in southern Lebanon. Not good for »
July 22, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Worse Than Incompetent

Some are calling for the United Nations peacekeepers to play a larger role in southern Lebanon, in the wake of current fighting there. So it’s a good time to be reminded of one of the lowest moments in U.N. history, when a group of UNIFIL (U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon) participated with Hezbollah in kidnapping and murdering three Israeli soldiers. The incident was covered up by U.N. officials, including Kofi Annan. »
July 22, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Intelligence failures

The new issue of the Weekly Standard carries a set of articles on intelligence failures of various kinds related to the terror wars, all worth reading. Jeffrey Gedmin’s article discusses the tour of mostly European journalists visiting Israel for the first time — of special interest to us because it included Joel Mowbray, whose dispatches we have featured over the past two weeks: “Europe meets Israel.” Here the failure of »
July 22, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Israeli Damage Estimates Overstated?

Rowan Scarborough writes today in the Washington Times that American military and intelligence officials believe that Israel’s claim to have destroyed as much as 50% of Hezbollah’s military capability is overstated: War planners are finding that much of Hezbollah’s firepower is hidden in hard-to-hit bunkers, tunnels or civilian neighborhoods, or is being spirited away in trucks after rockets are launched. The problem for Israel is, there are limits to air »
July 21, 2006 — John Hinderaker

On the Boulevard

Blog of the Week Blue Crab Boulevard has lots of good posts, including commentary on the death of one of the world’s true monsters–not BusHitler, but the real thing. And a just-discovered manucript by Dr. Watson, who solves the mystery of a left-wing blogger who has retired to Brazil but keeps popping up, assuming multiple identities. All of whom are big fans of said lefty blogger. Go figure! »
July 21, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Northern Alliance Returns

I’ve just gotten home from a pretty hectic week of business travel. This isn’t unusual; we rarely mention where we are when we’re posting–mostly because it would be boring–but I’ve posted from airport gates and hotel rooms in just about every major city in the U.S., and from as far away as Japan. It’s always good to come home. Last week, the Northern Alliance Radio Network broadcast live from AM »
July 21, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Say it ain’t so

In response to my post on the left’s crusade against Joe Lieberman, I recieved several comments from liberals claiming that it’s not just about the war. Like Duncan Black, these readers noted several other Lieberman “offenses,” particularly the fact that he appears on Fox News where he seems chummy with Sean Hannity. If this actually is a source of the effort to unseat Lieberman, I wouldn’t brag about it. To »