Roundup: Media's Take

Dmitry Trenin: The Reset Has Begun

[Dmitry Trenin is director of the Carnegie Moscow Center.] NATO soldiers marching in Red Square on Victory Day. Moscow agreeing on a compromise resolution of the 40-year sea-boundary dispute with Norway. The sight of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin kneeling at the memorial to the Polish officers murdered by Stalin’s regime at Katyn. These are a few glimpses of what the New Europe newspaper two weeks ago described as a kinder, gentler Russia. But three questions immediately arise: Is t

Fawaz A. Gerges: Did Obama's Cairo Speech Make Things Worse?

[Fawaz A. Gerges is a Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics, London University. Gerges has written extensively on relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world. Among his books is America and Political Islam: Clash of Cultures Or Clash of Interests?] A year after President Obama's historic speech last June 4 in Cairo, the reality of his Middle East policy is in sharp contrast to the promising rhetoric and high expectatio

David Sirota: From Shared Sacrifice to Hedonism

[David Sirota is the author of the bestselling books "Hostile Takeover" and "The Uprising." He hosts the morning show on AM760 in Colorado and blogs at OpenLeft.com. E-mail him at ds@davidsirota.com or follow him on Twitter @davidsirota] After Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt delivered a national address making eight references to the "sacrifice" that would be needed in the impending war and

Amity Shlaes: The University Guild vs. Glenn Beck

[Amity Shlaes, the author of "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression," is a senior fellow in economic history at the Council on Foreign Relations.] Drive them crazy. That's what Glenn Beck seems to specialize in doing, whether the "them" at issue is fellow radio hosts, fellow tv hosts, or, now, professors at universities. This last group is opening its own front in the war against the television king. An associate professor, Joseph Palermo of Ca

David E. Hoffman: You Know What Would Make the Spill Worse? Nukes

[David E. Hoffman writes "The World of Threats" for Foreign Policy.] ...Didn’t the Soviet Union once use nukes for [capping an oil well]? Not exactly. Both the United States and the Soviet Union did have a programs of using nuclear blasts for peacetime purposes. In the Soviet case, it was primarily excavation. All told, the Soviet Union carried out 715 nuclear tests, of which 156 were labeled as “for peaceful purposes.” (The U.S. total tests were 1,030 with 35 for Plowshar

Joe Conason: No, This Isn't "Watergate"

[Joe Conason writes a weekly column for Salon and the New York Observer. His new book is "It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush."] The quest for a Democratic Watergate that has preoccupied Republicans for more than three decades may never achieve fulfillment but surely will never end. Impeaching Bill Clinton promised satisfaction only to bring deeper frustration -- which must be one of the many reasons that we now hear politicians and pundits announcin

Raul A. Reyes: The Other Arizona Battle: A New Law Makes Ethnic Studies Classes Illegal

[Raul A. Reyes is an attorney and columnist in New York City.] Growing up, I wouldn’t have been caught dead in a Chicano studies class. My high school had one, but I avoided it like the plague. Although my family background was Mexican, I considered ethnic studies “too Mexican.” Besides, I thought I knew all about my heritage. I knew my ancestors had created two great civilizations. I knew about the Alamo. And that was about it. The high point of my study of the history

E.J. Dionne Jr.: David Souter vs. the Constitutional Originalists

[E.J. Dionne Jr. writes a column for the Washington Post.] It should become the philosophical shot heard 'round the country. In a remarkable speech that received far too little attention, former Supreme Court justice David Souter took direct aim at the conservatives' favorite theory of judging. Souter's verdict: It "has only a tenuous connection to reality." At issue is "originalism," an approach to reading the Constitution whose seeming

George F. Will: The Danger of a Government with Unlimited Power

[George F. Will writes a column for the Washington Post.] Today, as it has been for a century, American politics is an argument between two Princetonians -- James Madison, Class of 1771, and Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879. Madison was the most profound thinker among the Founders. Wilson, avatar of "progressivism," was the first president critical of the nation's founding. Barack Obama's Wilsonian agenda reflects its namesake's rejection of limited government.

Robert Scheer: Treat Palestinians Like Jews

[Robert Scheer, a contributing editor to The Nation, is editor of Truthdig.com and author of The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America (Twelve) and Playing President (Akashic Books).] ...The first time I encountered that bewildering criticism of Jews who dare to be morally consistent—despite that being our historical obligation—was when I was an editor at Ramparts and nearly bankrupted the magazine in attempting to cover the Six-Day War, during

Mickey Edwards: The Various Types of Constitutionalism

[Mickey Edwards spent 16 years in Congress and 16 years teaching at Harvard and Princeton. He is a director of The Constitution Project and wrote Reclaiming Conservatism.] Here's the good news. According to a recent article in The Hill, the Constitution has become a runaway best-seller. The Government Printing Office has sold nearly 9,000 copies in the past eight months and that's not counting the copies provided to constituents by members of Congress (who collectively dispense wi

John Sides: A Rebuttal to Mark Lilla on the Origins of the Tea Party

[John Sides is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at George Washington University.]Mark Lilla’s essay, “The Tea Party Jacobins,” seeks to explain the origins of the Tea Party. I do not disagree the part of his explanation that emphasizes the most proximate causes — particularly the financial collapse, bailout, and health care reform. Nor do I dis

David S. Broder: Is President Obama's Carter Moment Nearing?

[David S. Broder is a columnist for the Washington Post.] "This is the worst," a Democratic friend exclaimed over the phone on Tuesday, the first day back at work after the Memorial Day weekend. I knew without asking what he meant -- the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that dominated television coverage and was into its second month with no quick solution in sight. No, I told him. It's not yet the worst.... I was thinking back to when another Democ

James Woolsey: Parallels Between Present-Day Iran and Nazi Germany

[R. James Woolsey is the chairman of Woolsey Partners and a former director of Central Intelligence.] In 1933, a totalitarian regime came to power in Germany with the consent of at least a substantial minority of the German people. Its Nazi ideology was rooted in fanatic racism and resentment over recent history. Hitler and those around him preached that it was the destiny of the German race to dominate Europe and exterminate the Jews. One of the Nazis’ most bitter enemies from the

Martin Kettle: Germany, Too Weak Yet Too Strong

Talleyrand once said that the problem with Russia is that it is always both too weak and too strong at the same time. After the upheavals in the eurozone over the Greek bailout and now the resignation of the country's president over military policy, is the same now true of Germany? Germany's position as primus inter pares in both the eurozone and the European Union always underscores her economic and political strength. The bailout for the Greeks boiled down to whether the Germans,

Richard Irvine: Remember 1947 and the Exodus Ship

[Richard Irvine teaches a course entitled "The Battle for Palestine" at Queen's University Belfast.] No one can accuse history of not having a sense of irony. Sixty-three years ago, in July 1947, a passenger ship destined for Palestine and named the Exodus was stopped and boarded by the British navy. The ship was crowded with Holocaust survivors determined to make a new life for themselves in British-controlled Palestine. The British, facing Zionist terrorism and trying to

Louis René Beres: America Must Come to Terms with a New Vulnerability

[Louis René Beres is a professor of international law at Purdue University. He lectures and publishes widely on nuclear strategy and nuclear war. In Israel, Dr. Beres was chair of Project Daniel, commissioned to assess the threat to the nation of Israel from other states in the Middle East.] All talk about "victory" and "defeat" in our current wars may actually be beside the point. Whatever happens in Iraq and Afghanistan, the vulnerability of American cities to

Ronen Bergman: Siege Fatigue and the Flotilla Mistake

[Mr. Bergman, a senior military and political analyst for the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, is the author of "The Secret War With Iran" (Free Press, 2008).] Monday's botched commando raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla has proven disastrous for Israel. World public opinion has united in condemning the Jewish state and the U.N. Security Council has already demanded an inquiry. Closer to home, the strategic alliance that Israel had painstakingly forged with Turkey is in tatter

Leslie H. Gelb: Israel Was Right

[Leslie H. Gelb, a former New York Times columnist and senior government official, is author of Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy (HarperCollins 2009), a book that shows how to think about and use power in the 21st century. He is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.] Israel had every right under international law to stop and board ships bound for the Gaza war zone late Sunday. Only knee-jerk left-wingers and the usual legion of poseu

Sherrilyn A. Ifill: Disturbing Lessons of the Rand Paul Fallout

[Sherrilyn A. Ifill is a professor of law at the University of Maryland and a regular contributor to The Root.] Every few years, some Republican leader gets caught giving voice to a stubborn and persistent yearning for the racial dynamics of the era preceding the civil rights movement -- a yearning that remains a foundational, defining ethic for at least some GOP members. In 2002 it was then-Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, who at a birthday party for segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmo