SMART IS AS SMART DOES…OR DOES NOT

SMART IS AS SMART DOES…OR DOES NOT

As a gen­er­al rule, the smartest peo­ple in the room are the ones who don’t think every­one else in it is stu­pid, and the most cred­i­ble are those who have and con­sis­tent­ly hold prin­ci­ples. Recent events make it blind­ing­ly obvi­ous who falls short on both counts.Read the rest

COPING WITH TALES TOLD BY AN IDIOT

COPING WITH TALES TOLD BY AN IDIOT

As a guide for how to deal with the insults, about-turns and wreck­ing ball style that pass for Amer­i­can for­eign pol­i­cy with­out resort­ing to pro­fan­i­ty, I sug­gest chan­nel­ing Shakespeare’s “Ham­let”, with a small tweak: “Appro­pri­ate or inap­pro­pri­ate, that is the question.”Read the rest