The Gringo Series

Let’s call it de-gringo-ization, that penchant the United Statesians have for placing universal labels on things that are uniquely gringo. The first thing that comes to mind, of course, is the World Series, the annual end-of-season baseball playoff in the United States. Insofar as there are no teams from other baseball-playing countries represented–neither Japan nor, [...]

The Nuremberg Principles

Last night we watched “Nuremberg” again. It’s the made-for-television film with Alec Baldwin, Jill Hennessy and Brian Cox which presents a semi-documentary treatment of the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg, the trial of the most important Nazi party members after World War II. Though it’s unremarkable as cinema, it’s historic content keeps it timely and [...]

Is Condi Rice Initiating Her Plea Bargaining Already?

All the British papers are up in arms because they’ve just found out that the United States’ “extraordinary renditioning” aircraft did touch down on British soil. Reporters from The Times, Francis Elliott and Frances Gibb, affirm: British facilities were used by the US to transport terrorist suspects at least twice, despite repeated government denials – [...]

Yo, United Statesians, Listen Up!

A Lesson in Linguistic Geography for the People of the United States The land mass properly called “America” extends from the northern tip of Greenland to Cape Horn (properly Cabo de Hornos) at the southern tip of Chile and, besides the United States and its territories, Greenland, and Chile, includes Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, [...]

Is John McCain’s Memory Failing?

Is John McCain’s memory failing him, or is he trying to insult our intelligence again? Neither hypothesis says much in favor of the Republican front runner’s decency or competence. In a recent interview with K. Brinkbäumer and M. Hujer for Der Spiegel, reported in Spain’s El País newspaper, when asked (my translation), “Would you agree [...]

Cuba Free of Castro’s Yoke: Steve Bell’s Take

The Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell on Castro’s resignation and President George W. Bush’s reaction.    

All the News That’s Fit to… Ignore

For most of my adult lifetime the New York Times, the American newspaper of record, was practically an object of reverence for me. “All the news that’s fit to print…” proclaimed the masthead, and still does. I still read it online even though, over the years, it has lost some of its luster. To begin [...]

Is It a Bird? Is It a Plane? No, It’s the Machine Again

Faster than a speeding pork barrel, more powerful than executive privilege, able to leap tall ballot boxes in a single bound. There in the sky, is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Superdelegate! Now that the contest for the Democratic nomination is intensifying we see the term “superdelegate” popping up more and [...]

Between Two Fires, Drama Beneath the Surface in a Spanish Village

British journalist, editor, world traveller, and old Spain hand David Baird has written a new book, his seventh, and he didn’t have to go far to research it. He’s been sitting virtually on top of it since he arrived in the Andalusian village of Frigiliana to live in 1971. Between Two Fires: Guerrilla War in [...]