"Realist" v "Idealist" ...

“I’m not a pacifist... I believe in the use of force. But there has to be a good reason for using force. And you have to know when to stop using force.”

“There may have come a time when we would have needed to take Saddam out ... But he wasn’t really a threat. His Army was weak, and the country hadn’t recovered from sanctions.”

“You encourage democracy over time, with assistance, and aid, the traditional way. Not how the neocons do it.”

-Brent Scowcroft, former National-Security Adviser to President George H.W. Bush, in an interveiw in last week's New Yorker magazine, regarding the differences between the 1991 and 2004 U.S. wars with Iraq.

The article also contains an interesting summary of the state of debate between so-called foreign policy "realists" like Scowcroft and neoconservative "tough idealists" like Robert Kagan, William Kristol, and Paul Wolfowitz.

( Some questions that come to mind ... )

Old School

Quiz nabbed from meus_ovatio. (I kinda like this quiz better than the last political one ...)

You scored as Old School Democrat. Old school Democrats emphasize economic justice and opportunity. The Democratic ideal is best summarized by the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. </td> Old School Democrat 85% New Democrat 75% Green 60% Foreign Policy Hawk 55% Libertarian 25% Pro Business Republican 5% Socially Conservative Republican 0% What's Your Political Philosophy? created with QuizFarm.com

The Long Halloween

Some belated Halloween reminiscences: I went to a Halloween party Saturday where the theme was more, ah, Saturnalia than All Hallow's Eve. ( Read more... )

I spent Halloween itself, Monday evening, in downtown Seattle. Getting off the bus at Westlake, I immediately found myself in the midst of a horde of about 25-30 people in zombie outfits, all lurching toward the Pike Place Market, moaning for "brains." And here I was without my chain saw. I laughed when a few of them tottered in my direction, but I'll admit it was a nervous laugh ...

Later that night, & very much in honor of the spirit of the season, I went down to the Elliot Bay Book Company to hear Haynes Johnson talk about the subject of his new book, The Age of Anxiety: From McCarthyism to Terrorism. ( Read more... )