Hersh: Shifting Targets: The Administration’s Plan for Iran3 Oct 2007In a series of public statements in recent months, President Bush and members of his Administration have redefined the war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran. “Shia extremists, backed by Iran, are training Iraqis to carry out attacks on our forces and the Iraqi people,” Bush told the national convention of the American Legion in August.
Avnery: So What About Iran?3 Oct 2007It is no secret that the Pro-Israel lobby and its allies – the (mostly Jewish) neo-cons and the Christian Zionists – are pushing America into this war, just as they pushed it into Iraq.A RESPECTED American paper posted a scoop this week: Vice-President Dick Cheney, the King of Hawks, has thought up a Machiavellian scheme for an attack on Iran.
Emersberger: The Council on Hemispheric Affairs Deserves an F for Article on Haiti3 Oct 2007COHA, The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, recently published a piece by one of its research associates, Michael Glenwick, entitled “Préval of Haiti — A Provisional Report Card: Grade B+.” In it, Glenwick recycles the smears that contributed to Haitian President Aristide’s ouster in 2004 and, subsequently, to the worst human rights disaster in the Western Hemisphere.
Engelhardt: We Count, They Don’t2 Oct 2007Counting to Three At least Caesar was just commenting on reality when he wrote that “all Gaul is divided into three parts.” Last week, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joe Biden attempted to create reality when an overwhelming majority of the U.
Ehrenreich: The Clinton Campaign: Running on Ambien2 Oct 2007Just a year ago the hot question was: Is America ready for a black or female president? As the campaigns wear on, the question has shifted to: Can America survive the tedium of its black and female candidates? Obama, for example, hasn’t turned out to be any more challenging to white America than re-runs of the Cosby Show. He was slow to pick up on the Jena 6 case and never showed up at t.
Street: Obama’s Insults:2 Oct 2007I believe that all of you are as open and willing to listen as anyone else in America. I believe you care about this country and the future we are leaving to the next generation.
Paretsky: Planned Parenthood’s Fight in Aurora2 Oct 2007My grandmother watched her father die when an anti-Jewish mob broke into their small home and shot him as he lay in bed with his wife. The mob was jubilant and exuberant at his death; their neighborhood priest in Vilnius, Lithuania, led the crowd through the streets chanting a Te Deum to show their thanks to the Lord at the death of someone they considered a nonbeliever.
Loeb: Pre-Empting The Next War2 Oct 2007With the Senate embracing the reckless Kyl-Lieberman amendment, we’ve moved one step closer to attacking Iran. But there’s still time for Congress to assert itself against yet another needless war with massive destructive potential.
Kumar: Hands off Iran: Why Iranian women don’t need rescuing by the US2 Oct 2007The Democrats and Republicans are united in the belief that Iran poses a risk to US interests in the Middle East and must therefore be reined in. Iran is too irrational to be trusted with nuclear weapons, cry the warmongers who only half a century ago dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
James: Bolivia’s Evo Morales Wins Hearts and Minds in US1 Oct 2007While Iranian President Ahmedinejad stole the headlines during the United Nations meeting last week in New York, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales – a humble coca farmer, former llama herder and union organizer – stole the hearts of the American people. At public events and media appearances, Bolivia’s first-ever indigenous president reached out to the American people to dialogue directly on issues of democracy, environmental sustainability, and social and economic justi.
Lendman: Greenspan’s Dark Legacy Unmasked1 Oct 2007After retiring as the Federal Reserve’s second longest ever serving chairman, Alan Greenspan is now cashing in big late in life at age 81. He chaired the Fed’s Board of Governors from the time he was appointed in August, 1987 to when he stepped down January 31, 2006 amidst a hail of ill-deserved praise for his stewardship during good and perilous times.
Baroud: Lebanon and Syria: The Politics of Assassination1 Oct 2007The assassination of Lebanese politician Antoine Ghanem on September 19 is likely to be used, predictably, to further US and Israeli interests in the region. Most Western and some Arab media have industriously argued that Syria is the greatest beneficiary from the death of Ghanem, a member of the Phalange party responsible for much of st1:.
Castro: Aznar’s Silence1 Oct 2007 During a Round Table program aired on Cuban television on April 25, 2003, I pointed out that the then Spanish President José María Aznar, an ally of the world’s leader in genocides and massacres, had met with President William Clinton on April 13, 1999, at an uncertain juncture of the war in Yugoslavia, and had told him, verbatim: “If we’re at war, let’s make it an all-out war, in order to win, to achieve more than a partial victory. Even if the war must last a month, three months, let’s wage it.
Lamrani: Che’s Posthumous Gift:1 Oct 2007Mario Terán, a retired former non-commissioned officer sadly famous for having executed the legendary guerrilla, Ernesto Che Guevara, on October 9, 1967, in the tiny school of La Higuera in Bolivia, lives in complete anonymity in Santa Cruz. Mired in poverty, he lives only on his miserable pension of a former soldier and had lost his sight, victim of a cataract that he could not treat lacking resources.
Sagar: Global Hypocrisy on Burma30 Sep 2007As the Burmese military brutally cracks down on a popular uprising of its citizens demanding democracy the question on many minds is – so what is the world going to do about it? From the trend visible so far the answer is simple- nothing at all. Nothing, that is, beyond the usual condemnations and pious appeals for ‘peaceful dialogue’ and the posturing at international forums in support of the Burmese people.
Cutler: The UAW & General Motors:30 Sep 2007Members of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) will soon be encouraged by the union leadership to ratify a settlement reached with General Motors. Will the membership ratify the contract? That may depend on what they are hearing about the deal.
Emersberger: COHA gets an “F” for their article on Haiti30 Sep 2007COHA, The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, recently published a piece by one of its research associates, Michael Glenwick, entitled “Préval of Haiti — A Provisional Report Card: Grade B+.” In it, Glenwick recycles the smears that contributed to Haitian President Aristide’s ouster in 2004 and, subsequently, to the worst human rights disaster in the Western Hemisphere.
Bervera: The Justice that Jena Demands30 Sep 2007I want to tell you about Emmanuelle Narcisse. He was a tall, slim, handsome young man who was killed by a guard at the Bridge City Correctional Center for Youth – a Louisiana juvenile prison – in 2003.
Godfrey-Goldstein: The tide is turning30 Sep 2007The years 2007 and 2008 are landmark ones for those campaigning against occupation and for the Palestinian right to self-determination. Forty years of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip was nonviolently marked around the world in June; next year, peaceful demonstrations will observe the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel during which approximately 700,000 Palestinians were forced from or fled their land—an event that Palestinians call the Nakba, or “catastrophe.
Hayden: Northern Irish, South Africa Leaders in Secret Peace Discussion with Iraqi Parties30 Sep 2007Sunni and Shi’a leaders began a potential peace process at secret meetings with leaders of the new Northern Ireland and South Africa one month, signing draft set of principles which resemble the protocols that guided the peace settlements in those two countries. Chairing the closed meetings near Helsinki were Martin McGuinness, the former Irish Republican Army commander, lead negotiator with the British, and now Deputy Firs.
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