some guy in lebanon

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To all who supported me or gave me words of encouragement during the controversy of the past two weeks, you have my gratitude and respect.

You will by now have seen the statement by Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair reporting that I have withdrawn my previous acceptance of his invitation to chair the National Intelligence Council.

I have concluded that the barrage of libelous distortions of my record would not cease upon my entry into office. The effort to smear me and to destroy my credibility would instead continue. I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country. I agreed to chair the NIC to strengthen it and protect it against politicization, not to introduce it to efforts by a special interest group to assert control over it through a protracted political campaign.

I spent this afternoon at Microsoft Lebanon’s beautiful offices in Downtown Beirut, discussing Open Source Technology, software piracy, and several Microsoft initiatives. Their publicist also sort of offered me a job…! Prior to my meeting I had lunch with Nick in Martyr’s Square – We didn’t have much to say to each other, but it [...]

Update: Please note that this is a follow-up article to a previous post, “The Coming American Diaspora.”
To begin what is really an extended diatribe, consider this quote from Nathan Gardels’ interview with George Soros on Friday:

U.S. influence will wane. It has already declined. For the past 25 years, we have been running a constant current [...]

Given that our government is in the process of radically socializing the American economy, and also given my increased interest in Libertarian Socialism, I am of the impression that we are about to witness a market-driven rapid growth of communes here in the United States. My general assumptions for such a communal movement include,

Prior to [...]

Daily Star journalist Nick Kimbrell reported on Stefan Wild’s lecture at the German Orient Institute in Beirut last Tuesday:
In September 2006, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a speech at Regensburg University which invoked a centuries-old dialogue between the beleaguered Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an unidentified Persian scholar. The pope quoted the emperor as [...]

Interesting article in the New York Times today – Thesis is that in Dubai, religion has become more of a personal choice and Islam less of a common bond than national identity. From the article:
“I was more religious in Egypt,” Mr. Galal said, taking a drag from yet another of his ever-burning Marlboros. “It is [...]

To all who are reading – in the interest of scholarship, here is my final term paper that I handed into my class, “Prospects for Democracy in the Middle East”
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Prospects for Democracy – Final paper – Will Donovan
In the Middle East, many of the elements that are normally associated with the development of democratic nations [...]

so i’ve discovered the most significant peril of living in jordan: if you somebody says to you “ahlein,” you’re in trouble. see usually they say ‘ahlen,’ which means ‘welcome,’ like ‘welcome to my home/shop/school/country.’ but then you’re supposed to respond with ‘ahlein’ which is like saying ‘double back on your welcome.’ but if they start [...]

It’s been a while since I posted last, and a lot of stuff has happened since my little Marxist tirade last week.
First, it snowed 3 inches here, which isn’t a lot compared to what’s happening on the East Coast right now, but still, come on, this is JORDAN! Believe me, the last thing I ever [...]

There was an interesting comment by the King in the paper the other day after a few tabloids here in Amman ran the Muhammad (pbuh) cartoons. It went something like this: “We will not allow these people to abuse free speech in order to defame Muhammad or any prophet or any religion.” I found that [...]

So last night the family that owns the house we’re living in banned all Arabs from hanging out in the upstairs apartment, despite the fact that the family is, in fact, Arabs. Very interesting. No wonder these people have been shooting each other for five thousand years.
Yesterday I spent a few hours watching TV, which [...]