Dispatches

Semtex on a Plane
08.13.2006 16:05 | ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK
"I want this motherfucking Semtex off this motherfucking plane!" — Samuel L. Jackson on a hypothetical NYC - LA flight, sometime in the near future.These new-generation terrorists think too much. Shoe bombs requiring ignition systems and a...

Hunger Striking for Osama
05.31.2006 07:40 | ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK
Churchill was right: Gandhi was a terrorist. At least he was according to the logic of Navy Commander Robert Durand, who has the oxymoronic job title of Gitmo PR chief. In response to the latest spate of attempted suicides and hunger strikes at the camp,...

The Incredible Shrinking State
05.23.2006 08:13 | ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK
The secession of Montenegro from the Serbian rump reminds me of a joke from the first round of Balkan wars:Q: What are they going to call the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 2020?A: Belgrade.People used to laugh at that one. Now maybe they aren't la...

Delhi Pickle
05.12.2006 17:49 | ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK
When critics of Iran's nuclear program scoff at Tehran's claim that it needs the energy, the scoffing is justified. But it's more than a little curious when those same critics switch modes into supporters of the nuclear technology sharing a...

Run, Al, Run
04.21.2006 11:03 | ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK
Mr. Gore,All those people yelling, "Run, Al, Run" wherever you speak? Count me in. I haven't seen it yet, but The Ugly Truth looks great and has clearly broken through--well done. And the Constitution Hall speech was truly awesome.And, ye...

Climate Change: What Did We Know and When?
01.30.2006 05:39 | ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK
"Climate change is the only thing [with] the power to fundamentally end the march of civilization as we know it, and make a lot of the other efforts that we're making irrelevant and impossible." --Bill Clinton in Davos last week No shit, Matlock. This...

Video Store Tip
11.02.2005 08:45 | ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK
With immigrant-cop battles raging in Paris, it's a good time to re-visit Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 classic film, La Haine (Hate) of the same subject. If you've never seen it, acquaint yourself with it....

The Lamest Duck Ever
11.02.2005 08:09 | ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK
Now does he feel his title Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe Upon a dwarfish thief. -- Shakespeare, Macbeth Like Herpes, presidents last a lifetime. Watching the world crumbling around our peevish president one year into his second t...

Food for Oil
08.29.2005 09:50 | ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK
Forget, for a moment, how much it's going to cost to fill up your tank and heat your home this winter. The rising price of oil poses a bigger but related problem: Food. As it begins to dawn on Americans that the energy question--and bad U.S. energy po...