International Political Will

One of my teaching duties working part-time at an English school in Japan includes moderating a “voice lounge,” a freestyle conversation room that allows students to practice real speaking skills. As a grammatical and structural moderator, I typically introduce a game and try to remain relatively silent while the students do the talking.
But [...]

After just a couple of months, our little area in southern Japan has come to feel like home – despite the language difference. It’s a beautiful country with a culture very different from the western world, but for all the differences there are some similarities.
In the short time here, we’ve come to [...]

The 9/11 attacks were truly a horrendous act of violence, and certainly deserving of a massive response. Two simultaneous wars – and soon a third in Iran – certainly qualify, but did America just run away from 9/11 in a blind act of revenge?
Intelligent discussion about the attacks has yet to occur – the [...]

All the clamor surrounding Osama bin Laden in the past couple of days has made for exciting media – though little was intelligently analyzed. Instead politicians and the media continued a smokescreen discussion that distracts Americans from addressing the true reasons for terrorism.
First, unconfirmed French and Saudi intelligence sources reported that bin Laden may [...]

To be certain, much of what I write is considered hogwash by many patriotic Americans. That I do not deny.
But my own analysis of U.S. foreign policy cannot logically be equated with being un-American or anti-American. To relegate my beliefs to mere absolutes is to fall into the trap of creating a false [...]