This one may be only tangentially related to politics, but I think it's important because it explains why so many people are uninterested in politics. Or maybe it's a symptom, not a cause. Cause and effect is tricky, remember? So I was talking to an acquaintance last week who was telling me that he made sure to watch local news every night. I was surprised. "It comes on before the national news, right?" I asked him. [...] Read more!

Let's talk G-8. The Group of Eight comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries make up more than 65% of the world's economy. Of course, we need to add China, India, and Spain in there, for those three are becoming huge economic powers. What do the G-8 countries do? Well, they meet once a year, for one thing, and this year--next wee--they're meeting in Germany because Germany's Merkle is serving as the president of the G-8. [...] Read more!

Let's talk terrorism. It's not a pretty subject, and it generally comes down to that famous quote by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, "I know it when I see it." When we see the World Trade Center come tumbling down, we know that's terrorism. Before going any further, however, let's look at standard definitions of terrorism. If you Google the phrase "What is terrorism," you will get a bunch of definitions from all over the web, and I will briefly go through a few of these. What I want to get to here is that terrorism is not always clear-cut, and perhaps some things should not be labeled terrorism while other things we don't think of that way perhaps should be labeled terrorism. [...] Read more!

Dang, I wish I knew. There's a new International Atomic Energy Agency report out that "details" all of Iran's activities, and it doesn't look good. And by "details," I mean that it doesn't really say anything, because Iran isn't giving them anything. In large part, Iran's efforts are clandestine. And what they're showing the inspectors says that they will be capable of enriching uranium to make nuclear weapons. [...] Read more!

The newest Washington Post has a great article called "Second Life for Study Group" that explains how the Bush administration may be moving more toward adopting the proposals outlined in the Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward. You may remember that I spend several columns discussing the ins and outs of this report back when it appeared several months ago, and I still find the ideas fresh and compelling. I'm glad to see that the Bush administration is finally coming around to it, too. Specifically, the administration is trying to begin talks with the other nations around Iraq, such as Syria and Iran in an attempt to stop the sectarianism ripping Iraq apart. The administration may also be willing to set up benchmarks that Iraq will be responsible for; if they don't meet these benchmarks, then the U.S. will leave the country. Benchmarks could include things such as including Sunnis in the government, establishing peace in the north, training 5000 members of the army, etc. U.S. involvement in Iraq would depend on the country's ability to meet these benchmarks. [...] Read more!