JERUSALEM–There is not much of local importance in the news. Monday night’s prime time headlined the tragedy of a young Israeli traveler in the wrong place at the wrong time in Christchurch, someone yelling “Free Palestine” and “Apartheid” who was hustled from the room where Foreign Minister Lieberman was about to address his European counterparts, and a rambling speech by Muammar al-Gaddafi that alternated between boasts about his nation’s progress and threats of greater bloodshed.
“It is hard to tell when momentum shifts in a counterinsurgency campaign, but there is increasing evidence that Afghanistan is moving in a more positive direction than many analysts think.”
“The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) develops strong, pragmatic and principled national security and defense policies. Building on the deep expertise and broad experience of its staff and advisors, CNAS engages policymakers, experts and the public with innovative fact-based research, ideas and analysis to shape and elevate the national security debate.As an independent and nonpartisan research institution, CNAS leads efforts to help inform and prepare the national security leaders of today and tomorrow.”
Perhaps “independent” and “nonpartisan” are not appropriate. Another source describes the Center as “a largely centrist think tank with liberal-hawk tendencies” and close ties to the upper reaches of the Obama administration. “Liberal-hawks” may be replacing the “neo-cons” close to the previous administration who helped push the United States and others into Iraq and Afghanistan. The rhythm may change, but the drum beats are not all that different.
The Fick-Nagel article came to my attention only a week after I finished Robin Andersen’s A Century of Media, a Century of War. It begins with British propaganda from World War I claiming that German soldiers ravaged Belgian babies, and passes on to the tearful testimony of a young woman said to be recently arrived from Kuwait before a Congressional committee who described how Iraqi soldiers threw Kuwaiti babies out of incubators that they stole from hospitals. As some of you may remember, that young woman turned out to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States who later admitted that she lied. Independent inquiries found no evidence of what she had described. The book goes on to Oliver North and Ronald Reagan. It does not get to Nathaniel Fick and John Nagel. They might be a higher order of beings than Ollie North. However, what we know about the British experience in Afghanistan in the 19th century and the Russians in the 20th century suggests pity rather than applause for Americans and their allies in this century.
Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew Unversity. He may be contacted at ira.sharkansky@sdjewishworld.com