Do the Spanish elections matter? Even stating that question is, in an American political context, absurd: Of course they don’t. Spain is far away. The Spanish voters’ decision to throw out their government can’t possibly affect the U.S. elections. Continue reading “Western Unity Takes a Hit”
The Washington Post Column
Russian Lesson
The campaigns are winding down; the polling booths are being readied for voters. The Russian authorities are engaged in a massive get-out-the-vote effort. By this time next week Russia will have a new president, or a reelected one. All seems to be well in Russia’s new democracy. Continue reading “Russian Lesson”
Pseudo-History Sells
Why has “The Passion of the Christ,” a film that has already set box office records, caused so much fuss in this country? By the standards of Hollywood, the film should have sparked no reaction at all. Continue reading “Pseudo-History Sells”
‘I Am Victim’
Sometimes in the course of a great American debate there comes a moment when the big battle guns fall silent, the pundits run out of breath, and — unexpectedly — the long, bitter argument suddenly turns into farce. Continue reading “‘I Am Victim’”
The Next Plague
It isn’t in the news. It doesn’t have any impact, at the moment, on anyone’s daily life. It isn’t the kind of thing that the president talks about in State of the Union speeches, or that the Democratic candidates talk about on the stump. And it might also prove to be the greatest threat to this country’s physical and political existence in the 21st century. Continue reading “The Next Plague”
Why Can’t Bush Get the Words Right?
Call me lucky. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve heard three of the most important administration officials answer questions about the intelligence that led to their decision to go to war with Iraq. The settings were different. Continue reading “Why Can’t Bush Get the Words Right?”
Auschwitz Under Our Noses
Nearly 60 years ago last week, Auschwitz was liberated. On Jan. 27, 1945, four Russian soldiers rode into the camp. They seemed “wonderfully concrete and real,” remembered Primo Levi, one of the prisoners, “perched on their enormous horses, between the gray of the snow and the gray of the sky.” Continue reading “Auschwitz Under Our Noses”
Honesty in Izvestia
“What a difference thirty years can make,” writes Colin L. Powell, the U.S. secretary of state, at the start of an article he published this week in Izvestia, a Russian newspaper. Indeed. Continue reading “Honesty in Izvestia”
The Undoing of Lord Black
As of last weekend, Conrad Black, the famous media mogul, is no longer a media mogul at all: He has sold his newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph of London, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post. Continue reading “The Undoing of Lord Black”
Re: ‘Mission To Nowhere’
“Dear Ms. Applebaum,
The most desolate, lonely place that I can think of is not Mars, but the inside of your brain.”
Anyone who has ever written an article and had it printed in a public place will know how much e-mail has changed the way that readers communicate with authors. Continue reading “Re: ‘Mission To Nowhere’”