Here's a bit of contemporary history for you. After the 2008 election, but before the handover of power, Bush invited Obama over to the White House for a one-on-one sit-down meeting, in which he begged the incoming president to preserve just two programs......   (read more)

I really think everyone ought to watch the recent speeches by President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu at the U.N. The vivid moral clarity shown here - about orgiastic religious violence, about a nuclear-armed and messianic terror state in Iran, about a citizenry-slaughtering dictator in Syria - is much needed, and frankly awesome....   (read more)

The IDF is on the very front-lines of the struggle against terrorism, extremism, and indiscriminate violence. They are also the valiant defenders of history's most comprehensively kicked-around, assailed, and dispossessed folks: the Jewish people. Aside from warming your heart, I hope this 3-minute video will increase your appreciation for what these wonderful young people of Israel struggle with everyday and what they contribute to the world....   (read more)

• Female medic awarded Military Cross for bravery • Hitch on the Iraq Effect in the Arab Spring • Inside David Foster Wallace's Private Self-Help Library...   (read more)

• Rocking With The Egyptians In London • A Couple of Video Recap Highlights • And "A New Beginning in Egypt"...   (read more)

Not one to give you a moment's rest from news of the Egyptian Revolution, nor to pass up an opportunity to trumpet the Egyptians' awesomeness, here are a few new awesome things... Here are Egyptian folks self-organising to clean up Tahrir Square (not to mention provide medical care, and feed people). These guys make me proud just to be a human being....   (read more)

Okay, I know I'm turning into a broken Fuches on this subject - but as long as Egyptians are still pouring daily into Liberation Square and facing down machete-wielding government thugs, the least I can bloody well do is keep on blogging. Speaking of heroics, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times has been dispatching daily from Tahrir Square for several days now (despite serious risk of violence or disappearance). This video is awesome, especially if you happen to be of a feminist bent....   (read more)

If you've been ruling a country of 80 million people by fear for 30 years, you can certainly roust up a few hundred, or even a couple of thousand, thugs on a week's notice - to go out and rough up peaceful protestors, to instigate violence, to foment chaos. So that you can cling to power as the saviour from chaos. Bastard....   (read more)

We owe it to the brave men and women of Tahrir Square - and to our own history and values - to make one thing very clear: We stand with the peaceful throngs pleading for democracy....   (read more)

I was privileged to be able to turn out on Saturday to stand with the incredibly brave Egyptian people in their struggle for freedom. It was a wonderful, inspiring day....   (read more)

One degree centigrade. Iron grey skies. Freezing, blasting wind across Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. This was officially one of those "You Don't Have To Enjoy It / You Just Have To Fucking Do It" runs....   (read more)

The Egyptian regime has done what police states always do in a crunch - they cracked skulls, rounded people up in unmarked vans, and hauled them off to secret prisons. In a modern totalitarian twist, they've also blocked Twitter....   (read more)

First-of-their-kind anti-government protests have rocked Egypt. As many at 15,000 people gathered yesterday in al-Tahrir Square in Cairo. Word on the street is that there will be a demo outside the Egyptian Embassy in London (Mayfair), today--from 3pm to 6pm....   (read more)

If you haven't already got a program, here's your concise guide to a few of the new Iraqi ministers (not a few of whom have pretty interesting and, in some cases heroic, backgrounds)....   (read more)

George Will, whose intellect, erudition, and facility with language I have always admired greatly (while disagreeing with him on a number of issues), has just published four columns in a row on Israel, dispatched from Jerusalem, and appearing in the Washington Post....   (read more)

"Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations." - Yasser Arafat (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1994)...   (read more)

Just because I can, here are the girls of the Israel Defense Forces. Aren't they just heartbreakingly beautiful?...   (read more)

In case you haven't been keeping up, or if you have, here's a rundown of the video evidence of the Zionist storm troopers' brutal and unprovoked attack on the pro-Palestinian peace activists....   (read more)

Watching the "international community" rush to pour condemnation upon Israel once again, for having the temerity to defend itself, is deeply depressing....   (read more)

"We are Iraqis. We have had it much worse than this."...   (read more)

A belated message of congratulations and admiration and best wishes to the brave and long-suffering Iraqi people...   (read more)

Today, May 14th, is Israeli Independence Day. On this day, 60 years ago, the founders of Israel proclaimed a national homeland for Jews, a sanctuary from the slaughter in Europe, and an end to two millennia of wandering. So happy birthday, Israel - and here's to you...   (read more)

Year Israel Gave Gaza Back To The Palestinians: 2005 ... Number Of Rockets The Gazans Have Launched At Israel Since Then: 4,000 ... Number Of Seconds Residents Of The Israeli Town Of Sderot Have To Seek Shelter After The Sirens Go Off, But Before The Rockets Hit: 16...   (read more)

You know, we all feel a little down sometimes. Some days are better than others. But, lately, whenever I'm feeling blue, I like to think about a little something I have to look forward to: Dancing on that cocksucker bin Laden's grave....   (read more)

The most vile anti-Semitism imaginable, not to mention incitement of terror and incitement and planning of genocide, pour from the leaders of a UN member state, and the world is too polite to take any notice....   (read more)

"Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations." - Yasser Arafat (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1994)...   (read more)

This is an essay that I've been writing in my head - and reciting bits of out loud at various intervals, in variously heated discussions - for five years. I write and publish it now for the following reasons:...   (read more)

"Israel will be annihilated." - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...   (read more)

Happy Liberation Day to the brave and long-suffering Iraqi people. We stand with you....   (read more)

"The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity . . . It was the deep knowledge - and pray God we have not lost it - that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest."...   (read more)

"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq. I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world. . . ....   (read more)