Mr. Kissinger, Have You No Shame?

Ignore the recent excuses. Henry Kissinger's entire career was a series of massacres and outrages.
By Christopher Hitchens

"Until the most recent release of the Nixon/Kissinger tapes, what were the permitted justifications for saying in advance that the slaughter of Jews in gas chambers by a hostile foreign dictatorship would not be "an American concern?"
Read More (Slate)

The Pak-Af Problem

Are we committed to Afghanistan or to Hamid Karzai's government? By Christopher Hitchens

Friends of his would enjoy disputing whether his heart or his ego was the larger, but it was sad to know, as Richard Holbrooke's heart eventually burst, that he had strained a good deal of it in upholding a policy in which much of his best advice had been, or was being, ignored.
 Read More (Slate)

(1/8) Is There An Afterlife? Christopher Hitchens vs Shmuley Boteach

Christopher Hitchens debated Rabbi Shmuley at Cooper Union, New York on Thursday, September 16, 2010.





Play All 8 Videos

Free Speech / Off Topic added

Some DH visitors seem to have an urge to post and express themselves quite off topic to published posts. I've added a comment box where these views can be posted. So, stay on topic when commenting on posts, if you have something else to say, there's this comment box for that. It's a free speech box, so don't bother complaining on possible provocative or insulting comments. It's your choice if you want to go there.
Every now and then one stumbles upon non Hitchens material that one would like to share. A box like this is the appropriate place.
I don't know if this will catch on but it'll be an option for a while, if no comments are posted, I'll simply remove it.

The Hitch on Death

By John Rentoul

Christopher Hitchens, brooding on “how much faster I’m dying than anyone else” is interviewed by Oliver Kamm in today’s Times (pay wall).

Read More (independent.co.uk)

Christopher Hitchens and me

BY SOPHIE TARNOWSKA
"I met writer and polemicist Christopher Hitchens for the first time in 2008, here in Montreal. When I saw him again last month at the Munk debates in Toronto, I was shocked at the change cancer had wrought. He'd been diagnosed with esophageal cancer -the same cancer that had killed his father -this past June during the promotional tour for his memoir, Hitch-22."

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Christopher+Hitchens/3997097/story.html#ixzz18TGID5U2

Christopher Hitchens’s Jewish Problem

"The fact that Christopher Hitchens has a problem with the Jews has been an open secret for years. No one much likes to talk about it, and for various reasons his journalistic peers have remained silent on the subject. But it is nonetheless the case, and there is little sense in denying it."

I didn't first pay much attention to this and it's now a few days old but since it has made headlines on other blogs and sites, and in case you missed it and are interested, read Benjamin Kerstein's article here. (jewishideasdaily.com)

The Blair - Hitchens event in Toronto

By Peter Hitchens

Peter gives his view on the Blair debate. (Which he hasn't watched or listened to.)

"I'm asked to comment on my brother's encounter (styled by some a 'debate') with Anthony Blair in Toronto, recently broadcast on BBC radio. Delighted as I am that the BBC (which can and often does reduce an important Parliamentary event to three jokey minutes) has taken to broadcasting debates on major issues on Radio 4, I do wonder whether the habit will last, and why this particular one made it so swiftly on to the air."

Read More (http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk)

Thanks swh

How Can Anyone Defend Kissinger Now?

Update: Kissinger tells JTA: Take remark on gas chambers in context

Update by Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic. December 14
ADL: Kissinger's Vile Words Means Nothing

The Nixon tapes remind us what a vile creature Henry Kissinger is.
By Christopher Hitchens

"Over the last few weeks, this modest little column of mine has been acquiring an almost eerie prescience and potency."

Read More (Slate)

Author Christopher Hitchens in conversation

On his Jewish grandmother, his atheism, his writing—and facing his own mortality
by Noah Richler

"I don’t think someone is religious unless they have faith in what St. Paul calls the evidence of things not seen—in other words, the supernatural or supervising deity, presence, force who requires and expects certain kinds of propitiation. If that’s not in your mind, then I don’t think you’re really a religious person at all."

Read More (macleans.ca)

Christopher Hitchens on Vietnam

CH responds to Michael Labeit's post Christopher Hitchens on Vietnam on ricochet.com, via Peter Robinson.

CH replies: "I was naturally flattered to have my opinions on the origin of the Vietnam conflict taken so seriously in your recent postings. But this feeling gave way to a sense of bewilderment as I read further. Is it really controversial, anywhere, to assert that United States support for French colonialism was at the root of the disaster?" Continue reading

Shortly after posting Hitchens' reply, Peter Robinson posted this:

Christopher Hitchens Replies: The Background...And My Answer

American Atheists 2011 Convention

Christopher Hitchens is confirmed speaker at American Atheists 2011 Convention in Des Moines, Iowa, April 21-24, 2011. Embassy Suites Des Moines - On the River Hotel.

More Info (atheists.org)

Tea’d Off

By Christopher Hitchens

"Forfeiting a both-houses Republican victory, rational conservatives ignored or excused the most hateful kind of populist claptrap (e.g., the fetid weirdness of Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Project). The poison they’ve helped disseminate will still be in the American bloodstream when the country needs it least."

Read More (Vanity Fair)

The Oxford Comment Podcast: Episode 4. Religion.

Highlights and exclusive interviews with Hitchens, Tariq Ramadan, New York Times National Religion Correspondent Laurie Goodstein, Nick Mafi, and David Sehat, author of The Myth of American Religious Freedom.

Listen to the podcast here. (OUP blog)

Turn Yourself In, Julian Assange

The WikiLeaks founder is an unscrupulous megalomaniac with a political agenda.
By Christopher Hitchens

"In my most recent book, I reprint some words from a British Embassy cable, sent from Baghdad to the Foreign Office in 1976. The subject is Iraq's new leader. His quiet coup d'etat is reassuringly described as "the first smooth transfer of power since 1958."
Read More (Slate)

Merry Xmas with Christopher Hitchens

It's that time of the year, again. Christopher Hitchens gives his views on Christmas. Clips from MSNBC and Reason Magazine HQ, from a few years back. + Bonus Track.

Results of the Munk Debate on Religion

BE IT RESOLVED, religion is a force for good in the world.

This question was put directly to the audience of the Munk Debates on Religion both before and after they listened to a debate on the issue between former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, arguing in favour of the resolution AND bestselling author, journalist and literary critic Christopher Hitchens, arguing against the resolution.

Prior to the debate, 25% of the 2,600 audience members agreed with the resolution, while 55% disagreed and 20% were undecided. Immediately following the debate, agreement with the resolution had risen to 32% while disagreement with the resolution had risen to 68%.

About This Study

This poll was conducted for the Munk Debates (www.munkdebates.com) by Innovative Research Group, Inc. (www.innovativeresearch.ca), a national public opinion research firm on Friday, November 26th, 2010.
Prior to the start of the debate, members of the audience at the Munk Debates on Religion were asked to fill out a ballot where they indicated whether they agreed or disagreed with the resolution or were undecided. Ballots were collected and the results recorded using Scantron readers.
After the debate concluded, the audience was again asked to fill out a ballot where they indicated whether they still agreed or disagreed with the resolution. In the post debate ballot, the undecided option was not provided. Again, the ballots were collected and results recorded using Scantron readers. See detailed findings below for the ballot question wording and results.
The results of this poll are based on ballots collected among spectators at the Munk Debates on Religion.

DETAILED FINDINGS

Pre-Debate Ballot

QUESTION #1
Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world.
AGREE - 25%
DISAGREE - 55%
UNDECIDED – 20%

QUESTION #2
Depending on what you hear during the debate are you open to changing your vote?
YES - 76%
NO - 24%

Post-Debate Ballot

QUESTION #1
Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world.
AGREE - 32%
DISAGREE - 68%

AT LARGE: A Conversation With Christopher Hitchens

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty writer James Kirchick recently interviewed Hitchens at his home in Washington about his left-wing revolutionary past, his views on America, Iran's nuclear program, Turkey's Islamist turn, Putin's Russia, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sampled his views on a variety of international figures.


Play All 4 Videos.

Christopher Hitchens: My Hero of 2010

A gentleman and a truly formidable debater, Christopher Hitchens is a giant of the mind and a model of courage
By Richard Dawkins

"I'm not much given to straight, irony-free hero-worship. The last time I did a "heroes and villains" piece I chose Pope John Paul II as hero, on the grounds that he was doing everything possible to discredit the appalling institution of which he was head." Read More (guardian.co.uk)

The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers

Foreign Policy presents a unique portrait of 2010's global marketplace of ideas and the thinkers who make them.

#55. Christopher Hitchens
For refusing to surrender in the darkest of times.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/11/29/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers?page=full

Debating Tony Blair on faith

By Christopher Hitchens

"I am sometimes asked whether I ever get tired of debating the faithful. There are two reasons why I never do. The first is that this argument is at the root of all other arguments: constituting the essential underlay of differences about philosophy, cosmology, history, textual criticism and even medicine. The second is that I never know what my antagonist is going to say, or affirm, or claim to believe."
Read More (Washington Post)

Blair's thoughts about the event.

BBC Newsnight Special: Christopher Hitchens

CH interviewed in his home in Washington D.C by Jeremy Paxman. Broadcasted on Nov 29, 2010.





Play Full Interview.

Don't Be an Ass About Airport Security

The enemy is inventive and imaginative. Our response is neither.
By Christopher Hitchens

"I did not pay any attention to last week's feeble-minded attempt at a civilian-sponsored go-slow at airport security checkpoints. When the best that the children of a revolution can do for the defense of their inalienable protection against unwarranted search and seizure is to issue the pathetic moan, "Don't touch my junk," a low point of humiliation has been reached."
Read More (Slate)

In Search of the Washington Novel

A colorful genre awaits its masterpiece.

By Christopher Hitchens

Fiction about the nation’s capital is a growth that flourishes only on the lower slopes of Parnassus. Think of the flower of our novelists—Updike, Mailer, Roth, Cheever, Bellow—and see if you can call to mind a single scene that is set on the banks of the Potomac.
Read More (City Journal)

Munk Debates: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Friday, November 26, 2010. Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Canada. The official resolution, "Be it resolved, religion is a force of good for the world".

Christopher Hitchens vs. Tony Blair: The Full Transcript

New Statesman: "You may need to set aside the rest of your Saturday to get through this, but here in full is the transcript of the long-anticipated Munk debate between Christopher Hitchens and former prime minister Tony Blair. The motion: "Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world". No prizes for guessing who was arguing for and against.
Read it here. (newstatesman.com)

Preliminary poll results show Hitchens winner of religion debate with Tony Blair

“To terrify children with the image of hell...to consider women an inferior creation. Is that good for the world?” - Christopher Hitchens.

Preliminary results posted on the Munk Debates website from an audience poll suggest Mr. Hitchens won the debate. Read More (theglobeandmail.com)

Clip from the debate
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11843586

Watch the debate for $2.99 at
 http://www.munkdebates.com/debates/Religion

BBC Newsnight: Christopher Hitchens (Preview)

Jeremy Paxman interviews Christopher Hitchens in Washington D.C. Full interview on BBC2, Nov 29, 7.30pm. 

Hitchens debate with Blair scheduled around chemo treatments

“I arranged my chemotherapy around this so that I wouldn’t be demoralized. I’m tired, but I’m not fogged as one can be, so that was the main consideration,” he said.
Read More (thestar.com)

Blair v. Hitchens: Is religion a force for good or ill?

The Globe and Mail has a few short videos with CH and Tony Blair being interviewed before the Munk debate.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/video/christopher-hitchens-the-seed-of-doubt/article1814310/?from=1814261

Transcript and audio: Hitchens on not believing
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/transcripts-and-audio-christopher-hitchens-on-not-believing/article1814261/

Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens to debate religion

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair is to take on Christopher Hitchens in a televised public debate for and against religion. Friday Nov 26.

BBC World Service radio will air the Blair-Hitchens debate on December 4, followed by Radio 4 on December 11.

It can be viewed on BBC World News and the News Channel on January 1, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11843586

Livestream: http://www.munkdebates.com/debates/Religion

Paxman Meets Hitchens: A Newsnight Special

UPDATE Watch two minute clip from the interview. More tonight Nov 26, 10.30pm. Full interview Nov 29, 7.30pm.


Monday Nov 29, 19:30 on BBC Two (England, Scotland, Wales only)


In a wide-ranging special interview, Jeremy Paxman talks to Christopher Hitchens about his cancer diagnosis, his life, his politics and his writing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wkrbk

Hitchens-Dembski Debate Nov 2010 (1 of 10)

William Dembski debated CH at the Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, Nov 18, 2010.
Alright, it's on YouTube again.

Humane Bravery

Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, opposes to the death penalty for Tariq Aziz, one of Iraq's worst enemies.

By Christopher Hitchens

"When I wrote a recent call for the commutation of the death sentence against Tariq Aziz, I was privately hoping that the president of Iraq would intervene, as he has done before, to say that he would decline to sign his name to the death warrant."
Read More (Slate)

William Dembski Debates Christopher Hitchens

William Dembski debated CH at the Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, Nov 18, 2010.
As some of you have noticed, the debate was uploaded on YouTube but is now removed. I've spent some time trying to download it myself but have managed to save only parts of the debate. I'll try again at a later date. There's no point uploading it on YT at the moment so watch it here (pcawebcast.com).

Part Two. Christopher Hitchens on ABC1 Lateline.

In this second part Christopher Hitchens talks about his public life, battles and some of the events in recent history which led to his break with the left.



Part two, 2 videos
Play entire interview (4 videos)

Christopher Hitchens on ABC1 Lateline. Part One

CH talks to Tony Jones about living with cancer and not seeing any valid reason to change his beliefs close to death.



Part one, 2 videos.

The Pleasures of Hitch

Left or right, a quality scribe

By Christopher Caldwell, senior editor at The Weekly Standard.

"There is an odd thing about Christopher Hitchens. Having entered journalism as a Trotskyist in 1970s Britain (which he memorably described as "Weimar without the sex"), he has spent the last decade as a leading advocate of bombing Afghanistan "back out of the Stone Age." Yet this ideological change has had little effect on the pleasures of reading him."

Read More (New York Post)

Israel's Shabbas Goy

Why America will come to regret the craven deal Obama is offering Netanyahu.

By Christopher Hitchens


"Those of us who keep an eye on the parties of God are avid students of the weekly Sabbath sermons of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. In these and other venues, usually broadcast, this elderly Sephardic ayatollah provides an action-packed diet that seldom disappoints."
Read More (Slate)

Hitchens Vs. Blair Is Hot Ticket

Shinan Govani, National Post · Sunday, Nov. 14, 2010

"The demand. For the crossfire on dogma that's slated for Friday Nov. 26 at Roy Thompson Hall, when that incorrigible pundit Christopher Hitchens is all set to taken on former British PM Tony Blair."

More: http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/Hitchens+Blair+Ticket/3828772/story.html#ixzz15MX5l8cu

CH: 'You have to choose your future regrets'

By Andrew Anthony


In June Christopher Hitchens, the hard-drinking polemicist and atheist, met his toughest opponent yet when he was diagnosed with cancer. The question on many lips was: would his illness alter his beliefs – on Iraq, on Islam, on God? At home in Washington, with a large glass of Johnnie Walker to hand, he responds with characteristic combativeness.


Read Andrew's interview with CH here (guardian.co.uk)

Hitchens in a Lateline special

The Australian:


Next week on Lateline, author and journalist Christopher Hitchens talks frankly about his battle with cancer, his treatment and its impact. 

In a Tony Jones special interview recorded in Washington, Hitchens talks about his legacy as a writer and what an early death will potentially rob him of.  He is 61.

He also talks extensively about American and international politics, reflecting on many of the themes covered in his recent memoir, Hitch22.


Next week on Lateline with Tony Jones – Wednesday, November 17 and Thursday, November 18 at 10.30pm on ABC1.

'God or No God?': A Report

By Larry Taunton

"As many of you will know, I recently
debated Christopher Hitchens in Billings, Montana.  I have been slow to blog about it for two reasons.  First, it is a more difficult thing writing about a debate in which I was a combatant.  I want to be fair.  Second, I have been a bit busy."


Read Larry's post here. (fixed-point.org)

Don't Hang Tariq Aziz

The death sentence for Saddam's henchman threatens Iraq's exceedingly fragile democracy.
By Christopher Hitchens

"The decision of the Iraqi war crimes tribunal to sentence Tariq Aziz to death is one that needs to be vigorously opposed for several reasons." 

Read More (Slate)

Hitchens on Louis Farrakhan & The Pope

Clip from the Afterlife Debate with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, September 16, 2010, New York.

Miss Manners And the Big C

By Christopher Hitchens

Ever since I was felled in mid-book tour this summer, I have adored and seized all chances to play catch-up and to keep as many engagements as I can. Debating and lecturing are part of the breath of life to me, and I take deep drafts whenever and wherever possible.
Read article (Vanity Fair, December 2010)

William Dembski Debates Christopher Hitchens

William Dembski will be debating CH at the Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, Nov 18, 2010.

"Does A Good God Exist?"
"Dembski and Hitchens will debate the existence of a good God during a conference for the Biblical Worldview Institute at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas. The debate will be hosted in the worship center at Prestonwood Baptist Church from 8:40 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. It will also be webcast on www.pcawebcast.com."
More Info (uncommondescent.com)

Hitchens cancels NYC Jewish Center Ten Commandments panel

David Hazony tweets: "Wishing Christopher Hitchens many years of good health. He just informed us he can't make the NYC event tonight. Stay tuned..."


http://twitter.com/davidhazony

The Sad Case of Christopher Hitchens's Hero-worshippers

By Peter Hitchens


"It's amusing, if frustrating, to see the response of dogmatic unbelievers to my brother's thoughtful and generous remarks. It is clear that many of them find such thoughtfulness and generosity repugnant in their hero (and some of these contributions are embarrassing in their sycophancy). They would much prefer him not to have said this."


Link to article http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2010/11/how-not-to-argue-part-94-the-sad-case-of-christopher-hitchenss-hero-worshippers.html

The Skeptic's Skeptic

In the battle for ideas, scientists could learn from Christopher Hitchens.
By Michael Shermer

"Although he has no formal training in science, I would pit Hitchens against any of the purveyors of pseudoscientific clap trap because of his unique and enviable skill at peeling back the layers of an argument and cutting to its core."


Read Michael's article in Scientific American here.

Christopher Hitchens answers his own riddle

By Peter Hitchens

"One of the things that kept me away from my desk during the second half of October was a visit to Washington, during which I had a conversation with my left-wing atheist brother Christopher, sponsored by a fine body of men and women called the Pew Forum."


Read Peter's blog post http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk

Is There An Afterlife? Trailer

All the Views Fit To Print

Low points from this year's dishonest, vacuous campaign season.

By Christopher Hitchens


Future chroniclers of the low, dishonest, vacuous campaign of 2010—not only not a single funny placard at the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally but not a single serious one, either, plus the clapped-out crooner and fatwa groupieYusuf Islam impersonating a potted plant—will certainly puzzle over President Barack Obama's almost weird refusal to stick up for himself in the middle of his first term.
Read More (Slate)

Christopher Hitchens vs Tariq Ramadan - Is Islam a Religion of Peace? 1/10

UPDATE: Watch/Download the debate on Internet Archive. Notice the play order of the videos
http://www.archive.org/details/11PartsChristopherHitchensVsTariqRamadan-IsIslamAReligionOfPeace

October 5, 2010. 92nd Street Y, New York.

Part 1



via AlbertDarwin007

Christopher Hitchens On Suffering, Beliefs And Dying

"I'm here as a product of process of evolution, which doesn't make very many exceptions. And which rates life relatively cheaply."


Christopher Hitchens interviewed on NPR. Listen here.

Can Civilization Survive Without God?

A Conversation with Christopher and Peter Hitchens

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life invited brothers Christopher and Peter Hitchens to address the question of whether civilization needs God.

Full Transcript (pewforum)

City Lights: Billings blessed with spectacle of mix of beliefs

By Ed Kemmick.

"A journalist, author, critic and debater, Hitchens is one of those distinctly British intellectuals who seems to have read everything and forgotten nothing. In his columns, essays and books, in his speeches and impromptu public appearances, he is incapable of uttering or writing a boring sentence."
Read article here. (Billings Gazette)

Fixed Point Foundation
Pre-Order a DVD of our latest debate - featuring Christopher Hitchens and Larry Taunton. Buy the pre-order now for a discounted price! DVDs expected to ship in a few months.


http://www.fixed-point.org/index.php/onlinestore?page=shop.browse&category_id=5

Iraq Through Night-Vision Goggles

As we digest the WikiLeaks revelations, a new book
offers the soldiers' perspective.
By Christopher Hitchens

"For anybody of my generation, the term body count possesses
a reek of association that will never quite be dispelled."
Read More (Slate)

'My life is my writing ... my children come later'

Sonia Verma, Globe and Mail. Published October 22, 2010.

“I'd have to say, not to be a hypocrite, that my life is my writing before it's anything. Because that's who I am and my children come later and that's what they've had to put up with,” he says. Read interview here.

Nov. 4: An Evening with Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Prothero

The Jewish Center

Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant? Featuring: Christopher Hitchens, Stephen Prothero, Samuel G. Freedman, and David Hazony.

Register Here. Seating is limited.

More Info (David Hazony.com)

A friendly debate

UPDATE.
From Fixed Point: Due to technical difficulties at the event location, the live stream of this debate was canceled. We apologize for the inconvenience. Plans are already underway to provide a screening and/or online stream of the full event in the near future. Check back soon for details.
http://www.fixed-point.org/index.php/debates/333-godornogoddebate

BILLINGS - A casual spectator would never have thought the two men debating in "God or No God" at the packed Babcock Theater in Billings Tuesday night would be friends.


Read More (ktvq.com)

An Unlikely Friendship

Pre-debate clip with Hitchens and Taunton
Full Story (kulr8.com)