August 4, 2018 The words ‘hope’ and ‘Pakistan’ do not often appear together.  Pakistan, a sprawling nation of 205 million, is hard to govern, even harder to finance, and seething with tribal or religious violence and discord. But Pakistan, which for me is one of the most interesting and important […]


July 28, 2018 President Donald Trump and his neocon advisors have been trying to provoke a war with Iran and Syria for many months. The neocons are echoing Cato the Elder’s cry, ‘delenda est Carthago!’.  Iran must be destroyed. So far, Tehran and its ally Damascus have refused to respond […]


July 21, 2018 Comedy?  Disaster?  Mental disorder?  Hearing loss? Even days after President Donald Trump’s bizarre appearance in Helsinki alongside a cool, composed President Vladimir Putin, it’s hard to tell what happened.  But it certainly was entertaining. In case anyone in the universe missed this event, let me recap.  Trump […]