Meanwhile on the Iran front…

While a lot of the media focus in the run-up to the elections has been on domestic US politics, we should not ignore the fact that the government of Israel has been dropping hints of imminent war with Iran. As Stephen Walt says, Israel has raised the stakes by saying that they not only will they not let Iran develop nuclear weapons or the capability of making them, they will not even tolerate the Iranians having the theoretical capacity of doing so at some unspecified time down the road, a much lower threshold. [Read more…]

The C3PO/Eddie Munster ticket?

In discussing politics, I try not to pay too much attention to trivialities such as how candidates look, speak, what they wear, whether they are the kind of people I would ‘enjoy having a beer with’, etc. These are the kind of things that can fill up space and airtime on a slow news day, not requiring any research or other kinds of journalistic effort, but which do not really add to our understanding of what people stand for. But there is something peculiar about the Romney/Ryan ticket that I must get off my chest at least once. [Read more…]

Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand on religion and god

With Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, we can expect some discussion of Ayn Rand. Her message that social programs are merely ways to siphon away the wealth produced by the productive members of society to benefit ‘moochers’ and ‘looters’ has gained traction in the current Republican party and Paul Ryan, darling of the Tea Party, was an outspoken and unabashed admirer of Rand as the source of his ideas and philosophy. [Read more…]