By the standards of slaughter in Vietnam, the deaths caused by drones are hardly a bleep on the consciousness of official Washington. But we have to wonder if each innocent killed doesn't give rise to second thoughts by those judges who prematurely handed our president the Nobel Prize for Peace.
The recent controversy over the film Zero Dark Thirty implicates free expression, artistic freedom and public policy issues that are of great concern.
Republicans are once again attempting to embarrass the president, this time by reporting that he fought President Bush on "enhanced interrogation" and now he's advocating "murder by drone."
How does the administration know that its targeted killings and use of armed drones have not merely exchanged one terrorist threat for another that will be bigger, longer-lasting, and more dangerous?
The regime in power rarely feels the effects of sanctions. Instead, it is the average citizen who bears the burden of sanctions. Ironically, the Iranian regime uses the sanctions as a scapegoat, blaming the United States Government for their country's economic woes.
Michaelangelo once said that "the greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." Hillary Clinton has never done that. I have a feeling she's not planning on lowering her sights anytime soon.
Unquestionably, there have been a number of innocent people killed in drone attacks, either by proximity and/or mistake. But what is this in comparison to the land invasions and mass aerial bombings of the pre-drone era?
One subject, at least, got remarkably little attention during the inaugural blitz and, when mentioned, certainly struck few as odd or worth dwelling on. Yet nothing better caught our changing American world.
For Somalia, this is wonderful news, but what does this statement mean for Somaliland, an unrecognized state, located in the northern tip of Somalia, that declared its independence from Somalia in 1991?
Radical movements across the Middle East -- already benefiting from the collapse of state authority -- could make Egypt their ultimate prize in what appears to be an accelerating march across the littered landscape of the Arab Spring.
We have to address the root causes of terrorism and invest heavily in improving the immune system of societies, which are vulnerable and weak in the face of this challenge.
Today it is exactly those countries that were considered of relatively less strategic importance to the West that are becoming the focus of AQ and other Islamic extremists.
Mali offers a perfect convergence of conditions that enables al Qaeda to fund, train and prosecute terrorist operations -- but it also offers the West an opportunity to apply a more efficient and less divisive approach in tackling the global war on terror.
While foreigners are welcome in Algeria, they are made to understand that they are not only subject to the government's laws and its rules and regulations, but also to the state's broader objectives.
The disfavor for intervention among American politicians and the public is understandable and a good restraint. But occasionally making a stand against atrocity and extremism, particularly when it's in danger of spreading, is a worthy goal for a great power. Mali just might be the place.
The version of events offered by Zero Dark Thirty substitutes pulp fiction -- of the mythological kind -- for truth. It satisfies a gnawing hunger; it meets a powerfully felt need.