The news media has an annoying tendency to focus on the symptoms, not the disease.

This is especially obvious in its coverage of the "rift" in President Obama's national security team, as illustrated by General Stanley McChrystal's decision to lobby Europe for increased troop levels in Afghanistan.

This effort...

The announcement about the Afghan Presidential runoff is as unfortunate as the election itself. The US is in some kind of dreamland if it thinks that holding another election is the answer to selecting a legitimate Afghan leader.

Traditionally in times of crisis, the Afghan people call a Loya Jirga....

This weeks UN General Assembly certainly brought out the drama of the people still living in their day-to-day inability to face reality. From Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Benjamin Netanyahu, the world seems to be full of ranting on and on about the other.

Bibi Netanyahu, the reinstated Prime Minister of Israel,...

I am thoroughly embarrassed by my Congressional representatives. We Americans should take a deep breath and a moment of reflection while asking ourselves quietly -- what gives us the right to be so disrespectful to anyone let alone our President?

Millions of American disagreed with George W. Bush's policies....

In less than two days, 17 million Afghans are expected to go to the polls and vote. This will be their second presidential election, and although I have been watching the events surrounding the election, I, like many Afghans, feel almost apathetic.

No doubt I wish I were there....

The US sent 4,000 marines to up the anti in Southern Afghanistan and snuff out the stronghold of the Taliban. Unfortunately, this influx of soldiers turned an already bloody war into one where violence has escalated to unprecedented heights. This movement is now making the country much more volatile in...

Neither September 11th or the worst economic downturn in history has managed to snap people out of their dreamlike delusions of why we should continue the quest to mediocrity. On one hand we have the almost former governor of Alaska, Sarah 'the anti-intellectual" Palin, talking dimwittedly about dead fish and...

Trying to save face, the Iranian government is scrambling to blame the latest post-election unrest on everyone except their own ineptness to count ballots and treat the Iranian people with respect. The current government, fearful of its own survival, undercut the nation's only ounce of democracy at the expense of...

It is a historic time in Iran. People have taken to the streets demanding their democratic rights be honored. The Iranian people have been demonstrating for what they deem to be a false election. Protests have evolved into a generational march for freedom and democracy; an event that foreign policy...

The Iranian challenge to the elections is capturing the media waves. All eyes are watching to see if the Ayatollah will be patient with the protesters or squash them like bugs. It is pretty apparent by the way the media prefers to cover the Twitter tweet rooms that no one...

Every military commander has echoed the words of US defense secretary Gates, the current wars "can not be won militarily." The solution, they say, is political and will take a massive civilian and diplomatic effort. Yet, the US keeps raising the military stakes and strikes, particularly in Afghanistan.

In April...

President Obama caused a media frenzy when he not only shook hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but he smiled at him. A photo of this spectacle landed on the front page of newspapers worldwide and created angst in those who feel the US must continue animosities toward all and...

Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel from 1992-1995, understood that unless the Palestinians were allowed self-determination and given a viable State, Israel would lose its future as a home solely for Jews. To make matters much worse, Israel's survival would always be threatened by its neighbors.

His untimely death,...

The Obama Administration's careless message that it is turning away from Afghan President Hamid Karzai may go over well in the US, but it is destroying Afghan support for a continued US presence in the country. Afghanistan's recent history should remind us that such implications open doors for either 'great...

I am absolutely shocked by the number of people who are expressing reservations about closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center. It is astounding that any American would prefer to leave 245 individuals in prison despite the fact that many of them could be innocent.

Kidnapping, incarcerating, and torturing individuals...

On the anniversary of Martin Luther King and the eve of a historical inauguration, the bombs plummeting on Gaza finally cease. Unfortunately war in our world continues. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and the Congo, fighting persists and I am sure we have not seen the last of it there or...

Mayor Bloomberg's rush to travel to Israel in a show of solidarity makes one wonder if he has decided to leave the US and run for president over there. After all he has hopped political parties, why not countries?

He and many other US leaders are showing unconditional support...

"Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary." Mahatma Gandhi, 'Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13,' May 3, 1919

As hopes of peace ring through the world in preparation for a New Year, Israel is massing tanks on the border of Gaza. For three days, the Israeli...

President-elect Obama says Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich should step down after trying to sell his Senate seat. Actually, the governor should not pass go and park his large black SUV right in front of his new home -- jail. Haven't we all had enough of these politicians using their offices...

Anyone who has not heard that Senator Hillary Clinton is being considered for Secretary of State is definitely living under a rock. Every media station and pundit is weighing in on this decision. They say it is "restorative." It is a "gesture" from the Obama camp "healing" campaign wounds. "Everybody"...