I was so struck by this article in The New Yorker by Seymour M. Hersh -- a great investigative reporter -- that I decided to post it on my blog: WATCHING LEBANON by SEYMOUR M. HERSH Washington’s interests in Israel’s war. Issue of 2006-08-21 Posted 2006-08-14 In the days after Hezbollah crossed from Lebanon into Israel, on July 12th, to kidnap two soldiers, triggering an Israeli air attack on Lebanon and a full-scale war, the Bush Administration seemed strangely passive. “It’s a mom...

If you haven't already been reading Tom Perrotta in The New York Sun, I would strongly recommend that you do so. Wonderfully detailed, great perspective and knowledge of the game. Reading him is even better than watching a game on TV.

After Lebanon, there's Iran (Christian Science Monitor) By Vali Nasr MONTEREY, CALIF. When the war in Lebanon ends, the US will have to piece together a whole new strategy for dealing with Iran - especially its nuclear program. The Israeli- Hizbullah war has boldly ratcheted up Iran's regional stature at the same time it has depleted US influence and prestige. From the outset, the Lebanese conflict was about more than just Hizbullah. Jerusalem and Washington were quick to point th...

I suppose that if one were to delve into history, one could conclude that all nations are artificial. Someone put them together -- whether it was the Founding Fathers who formed the United States, or some mythic royals who assembled the Nordic states. But in the ongoing G2K discussion, we are presumably talking about contemporary times -- about nations that are "in play" right now because they fail the essential test of nationhood: the center does not hold. Simply put, that means the natio...

In signing a historic and highly lenient nuclear treaty with India last week, but withholding similar concessions from its rival Pakistan, President Bush signaled that "parity" isn't a concept to be applied universally in contemporary diplomacy. He offered public recognition to the fact that democratic India's value as a political ally and economic partner far exceeded Pakistan's capacity or potential to be a significant player in the Bush administration's global campaign of spreading demo...

I came to America 38 years ago from India, where I was born and raised. In all these years here -- and in dozens of countries I have visited as a journalist -- I've never had anything stolen from me. Call me lucky. The luck ran out this week. I discovered that an expensive IBM laptop computer was missing from my study. It had been sitting in its case on a sofa for several weeks, since I hadn't an occasion to use it; at home I generally use my desktop computer -- the laptop is mostly for tr...

So, as expected, India's communists and other parties of leftist persuasion have, shall we say, convinced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to backtrack on his plans to privatize state behemoths. His fragile coalition government in India's 545-member Lower House of Parliament depends on leftist support, even though leftists aren't formally a part of that coalition. If they withdraw support, the government will most certainly fall. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing, after all. India de...

It's not that the subject of HIV/AIDS isn't covered by the media. But the focus of stories is far too often on reports, and on gloomy news. What about stories from the field where nongovernmental organizations, in particular, work with constituencies such as AIDS orphans? In recent months, I've had the opportunity to learn about some of these projects through the Association Francois-Xavier Bagnoud. I'm impressed by the sheer effort made by local field workers, most of whom are unheral...

Letter from Maurice Strong to Pranay Gupte, received by e-mail on June 9, 2005 I read your article of April 29th only after we had talked on the telephone. Amongst its several distortions and errors of fact I would point out: 1) That I did not authorize a purchase by Ontario Hydro of the 31,000 acres of forest land in Costa Rica you refer to. Any such purchase was done only some time after I left Ontario Hydro and I had nothing to do with its authorization. 2) The modest 12 unit ...

Profile: Maurice F. Strong By PRANAY GUPTE Special to the Sun The Canadian business tycoon and self-styled socialist who's currently embroiled in a scandal relating to the United Nations, Maurice Strong, has created a worldwide network of influential people whom he's enlisted in the cause of environmentalism and "sustainable development," a phrase he claims to have coined to denote ecological security, economic progress, and social justice. But the 75-year-old Mr. Strong, a son of poor...

Dear Mr. Gupte, My name is Salimah Fort and I am the Senior Customer Consultant at FedexKinko's in Brooklyn. I am writing you today to express my sincere apologies for the business card mishap. I would like to offer you a complete refund and a free reprint of the cards. I also would like to give you two 40% off coupons for two future posters. I would appreciate it if you would respond to this email either by phone or via email. Thank you for your time and I would like to apologize again. ...

The following is the text of a letter I sent to Gary Kusin, president of Fedex Kinko's, and Maggie Thill, of the company's media department. Neither has responded. Dear Maggie Thill: I write this to say how disappointed I am with the service -- or lack thereof -- at the fedex Kinko's center at 16 Court, Brooklyn, NY 11201. I had placed an order three weeks ago for 500 business cards, and paid in full (the invoice was for around $35). When I went to check the page proofs yesterday,...

I flew to Paris to attend an exhibit at the Museum of Decorative Arts in the Louvre. The exhibit consisted of T-shirts produced by 79 renowned fashion designers to mark World AIDS Orphans Day, May 7. WAOD is the creation of Countess Albina du Boisrouvray, the founder of the Association Francois-Xavier Bagnoud, named after her son, a helicopter rescue pilot who was killed in Mali while on a mission. To say that the exhibit was dazzling would be to engage in an understatement. I don't believ...

Col Allen Editor, the New York Post Herbert Allen CEO, Allen & Company Stanley S. Arkin Arkin Kaplan Leon D. Black Apollo Management Michael R. Bloomberg Mayor of New York City Joyce Brown President, Fashion Institute of Technology Arthur Carter The New York Observer James Cayne CEO, Bear Stearns Kenneth Chenault Chairman, American Express Hillary Clinton United States Senator William Jefferson Clinton Former U.S. president Steven A. Cohen SAC Capi...

Of course it's preferable to give an electorate the opportunity to "turn out the rascals" every two or four or five years -- depending on a country's electoral cycle -- but how many rascals do we truly toss out? In many of the Third World's democracies -- and here I return to India as a prime example -- felons and assorted thugs, once elected to legislatures, rarely get dislodged. That's because of the privileges that power can fetch: the pork barrel, the natural deference that significantly ...