Hmmm. Are psychotics easier to interrogate? As I understand it, the most important function of law is to protect the peace, security, and order of society from crime and violence. When it becomes a more effective tool at doing exactly the opposite of that, it’s time to talk about changing the law.

North Korea threatens U.S. installations: North Korea will turn U.S. military bases in the region into a “sea of fire” if war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, North Korean media on Friday quoted a communist officer as saying. The North’s state-run news media highlighted the comment hours after South Korea released a new defense policy paper that revealed a U.S. reinforcement plan to dispatch 690,000 troops and 2,000 warplanes if war breaks out in Korea. If you actually visit...

Max Boot, Writing about G.W. Bush: Much can still go wrong in the broader Middle East. Indeed, much has gone wrong already. There is no doubt that Bush has made plenty of mistakes. The mistake he has not made, however, is the most important of all: He has not lost his nerve. History shows that a mighty nation can recover from wartime miscalculations . . . as long as it possesses a leader who never acknowledges that he is beaten....

SOTU IV: I also liked the hat tips to more DNA testing and special training for defense lawyers who try capital cases. Fact is, some lawyers are much, much more experienced/ intelligent / aggressive / concerned for the welfare of their clients than others. When the state puts a person’s life is at stake, it owes the accused more than the minimum requirement. Indeed, I wonder if “beyond a reasonable doubt” is high enough. The military just dramatically expanded the...

SOTU III: Oh yeah. Remember when Jon Stewart played a piece of Bush’s inauguration speech–the part where he offered democratic reformers our support–at which point Stewart added words to the effect of, “offernotvalidinSaudiArabiaEgyptorPakistan”? It was funny, but Bush answered that last night. Jon Stewart would probably agree that it’s hardly the time to be screwing about with things in Pakistan, but give him 2/3 credit for going after Egypt and the Saudis. Nice. There didn’t seem to be any retreat...

SOTU, P.S. Watching Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi was like being alone in a full body cast . . . with the TV showing city council meetings on public access. Ewwwww. Could they have been more lame? Lamelamelamelame. You could have picked Barack Obama, Harold Ford, Evan Bayh, Joe Lieberman, Ken Salazar, I mean, criminy . . . with all the appealing, talented folks in the Democratic Party, couldn’t you have done better than a farbissoner and a nebbish?

On Regime Change: Someone else gets it, this time in the context of Iran.

Libya Uranium Update: A very long update on the story, plus my analysis, here.

Max Boot, Writing about G.W. Bush: Much can still go wrong in the broader Middle East. Indeed, much has gone wrong already. There is no doubt that Bush has made plenty of mistakes. The mistake he has not made, however, is the most important of all: He has not lost his nerve. History shows that a mighty nation can recover from wartime miscalculations . . . as long as it possesses a leader who never acknowledges that he is beaten....

SOTU IV: I also liked the hat tips to more DNA testing and special training for defense lawyers who try capital cases. Fact is, some lawyers are much, much more experienced/ intelligent / aggressive / concerned for the welfare of their clients than others. When the state puts a person’s life is at stake, it owes the accused more than the minimum requirement. Indeed, I wonder if “beyond a reasonable doubt” is high enough. The military just dramatically expanded the...

SOTU III: Oh yeah. Remember when Jon Stewart played a piece of Bush’s inauguration speech–the part where he offered democratic reformers our support–at which point Stewart added words to the effect of, “offernotvalidinSaudiArabiaEgyptorPakistan”? It was funny, but Bush answered that last night. Jon Stewart would probably agree that it’s hardly the time to be screwing about with things in Pakistan, but give him 2/3 credit for going after Egypt and the Saudis. Nice. There didn’t seem to be any retreat...

SOTU, P.S. Watching Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi was like being alone in a full body cast . . . with the TV showing city council meetings on public access. Ewwwww. Could they have been more lame? Lamelamelamelame. You could have picked Barack Obama, Harold Ford, Evan Bayh, Joe Lieberman, Ken Salazar, I mean, criminy . . . with all the appealing, talented folks in the Democratic Party, couldn’t you have done better than a farbissoner and a nebbish?

On Regime Change: Someone else gets it, this time in the context of Iran.

Libya Uranium Update: A very long update on the story, plus my analysis, here.

I’ll begin with what probably concerns most readers of this site, which is Bush’s undeniably wimpy avoidance of discussions of North Korea, David Sanger’s predictions notwithstanding. In what must be the worst possible sign, the speech actually won relieved praise from the South Korean press. Contrast that with his deliciously of more sanctions on Syria for its shenannigans in Iraq, and what sounded very much like (!). We’ll probably know by the end of next summer whether anyone will answer...

I’ll begin with what probably concerns most readers of this site, which is Bush’s undeniably wimpy avoidance of discussions of North Korea, David Sanger’s predictions notwithstanding. In what must be the worst possible sign, the speech actually won relieved praise from the South Korean press. Contrast that with his deliciously of more sanctions on Syria for its shenannigans in Iraq, and what sounded very much like (!). We’ll probably know by the end of next summer whether anyone will answer...

Proliferation Update: My full report here, on The Command Post, and also on NKZone. To all Command Post and NKZone readers, a hearty oso-oshipshio (welcome).

Proliferation Update: My full report here, on The Command Post, and also on NKZone. To all Command Post and NKZone readers, a hearty oso-oshipshio (welcome).