Pope Benedict, Dr. Johnson, and Hell
The Pope says that hell “really exists and is eternal, even if nobody talks about it much any more.” In a Lenten homily at a Roman parish on Monday, reports Richard Owen in the London Times, “Benedict...
View ArticleTutoiement Partout
Tu or vous? Du or Sie? In English, the second person singular has long since ceased to be a source of political controversy—though in the days when Quakers insisted on calling their social superiors...
View ArticleNorman Podhoretz on “The Case for Bombing Iran”
Last week, contentions staff interviewed COMMENTARY’s editor-at-large Norman Podhoretz about his June 2007 article “The Case for Bombing Iran.” This critically important (and controversial) article has...
View ArticleThe Clearstream Affair
Dominique de Villepin, the former French prime minister, had some unusual visitors this week. Judges and police searched his Parisian apartment as part of their investigation into what is proving to be...
View ArticleNicolas Sarkozy, Cherry-Picker
The buzz is growing about Nicolas Sarkozy’s attempts to woo center-left and socialist politicians. Yesterday, in the New York Times, James Kanter noted Sarkozy’s endorsement of Dominique Strauss-Kahn,...
View ArticleHitler’s Record Collection?
It is ironic that just as the death of the distinguished Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg is announced, the media here and abroad should broadcast news of the rediscovery of Hitler’s presumed “record...
View ArticleAttention Must be Paid
Arthur Miller is widely reputed to be the greatest American playwright of the 20th century. And it’s true that his most famous work, Death of a Salesman, is a literary, as well as dramatic,...
View ArticleMind the Gap
According to the London Times, “Shibboleth,” the Tate Modern’s new installation, has already claimed its first victims. Last week, three visitors fell into the work, a 548-foot-long crack that runs...
View ArticleCheck out the Spectator
There are some great doings at the website of what I like to think of as a sister publication to COMMENTARY across the pond: the Spectator. The oldest magazine in the English-speaking world, the...
View ArticleCommentary’s “Sister Publication”?
Should we mix it up among ourselves here at COMMENTARY’s various blogs? Sometimes we have to. Jamie Kirchick blew a little valentine over the weekend to the British publication, the Spectator. It read...
View ArticleThe Passion of Eric Alterman
In a typically frothing and self-aggrandizing post, Eric Alterman lashes out at any and all enemies: Speaking of me, I often have trouble deciding which attacks on me in the blogosphere demand...
View ArticleRiyadh Votes No-Confidence in Iran Sanctions
The report that Saudi Arabia has agreed to let Israeli jets transit its airspace to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities indeed shows, as Jennifer noted, that progress in the “peace process” is not...
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