Traboulsi: For an Arab-Kurdish Federation in Iraq19 Dec 2007[Translator’s Introduction: The article below by Fawwaz Traboulsi first appeared in Arabic in the Beirut weekly Mulhaq al-Nahar al-Thaqafi (the Literary Supplement of the daily al-Nahar) of November 6, 2005. The article has not previously been translated into English, and it is offered here for its continuing relevance to Iraqi political developments.
Shtrasler: So what have we done to them19 Dec 2007An old Jewish joke tells of a devoted mother who briefs her son before he sets out to battle: “Kill a Turk and rest,” she advises. But the son asks: “And what happens if in fact the Turk tries to kill me?” She opens her eyes wide in surprise: “Why would he want to kill you? What have you done to him?” This is exactly the kind of self-righteousness that accompanies our attitude toward the Palestinians.
Street: “Angry John” v. KumbayObama:19 Dec 2007I am surprised at just how angry John (Edwards) has become. - Chris Dodd, the leading recipient of campaign dollars from the United States insurance industry, November 12, 2007 (Dodd 2007) span style=”font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana; mso-.
Safty: Annapolis: The Morning After19 Dec 2007As expected the Annapolis meeting did not address the substantive issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinians and Israelis expected different things from Annapolis and not surprisingly the Israeli vision triumphed.
Ouziel: Fantasyland for Poker Diplomacy18 Dec 2007After reviewing the mainstream media reports on the political response to the National Intelligence Estimate, it seems clear to me that the leaders of the ‘Axis of Good’ are bent on betting all their stakes on Iran. Although the summary of the findings of the 16 U.
Levy: London’s burning for Dichter18 Dec 2007Avi Dichter will not be going to London. The Israeli dream of taking in year-end sales, the new production of Othello or the sights of Oxford Street vanished before the public security minister’s very eyes.
Melder: Blackwater Resisters Tried in Closed Court18 Dec 2007On December 5th, District Court Judge Edgar Barnes found 7 peace activist guilty for a political theater action performed at Blackwater headquarters in Currituck County, North Carolina. The action, which took place on October 20th, was a theatrical re-enactment of the September 16th Nisour Square massacre in Iraq.
Simanowitz: Military Intervention against Iran?18 Dec 2007The findings of the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) which state “with high confidence” that Iran halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003 clearly represent a major set-back to those arguing for military intervention against Iran in the coming months. However, if unchallenged, it is possible that the report might strengthen the case for military action against Iran in the coming years.
Bowen: Apartheid-style fight for democracy looms18 Dec 2007Samuel Johnson, who once said that “a second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience”, would have had something pithy to say about anybody expecting justice for the Palestinians from the Annapolis process. Too many past initiatives have been derailed by the intransigence of Israeli governments whose tactic has long been to delay justice in order to deny justice.
Pourzal: Who Among Iranians Fears the NIE?18 Dec 2007The release of an unclassified summary of the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran last week has met with a tidal wave of disbelief in hawkish circles in Washington and Tel Aviv. The much-anticipated report’s critics agree with its admirers that it weakens the Bush Administration’s case against Iran, but draw an opposite lesson from the assessment.
Avnery: To die with the Philistines?18 Dec 2007THE MOST famous words ever spoken in Gaza were the last words of Samson (Judges, 16, 30): “Let me die with the Philistines!” According to the Biblical story, Samson took hold of the central pillars of the Philistine temple and brought down the whole building upon the Lords of the Philistines, the people of Gaza and himself. The teller of the story sums it all up: “So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.
San Roman: Santa Maria de Iquique Massacre18 Dec 2007On December 21st, Chileans will commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the Santa Maria de Iquique massacre. The tragic episode is perhaps one of the most important and defining moments in Chile’s history of labor activism.
Lamrani: Bush’s new threats against Cuba18 Dec 2007October 24, 2007 at the headquarters of the State Department in Washington, President George W. Bush gave a long and extremely virulent speech against the Havana government.
Susskind: New Year, No Resolutions on Climate Change18 Dec 2007With the dramatic wrap-up of the UN climate change conference in Bali, 2007 is drawing to a close. Now we have seven short years—until 2015—to reverse the rise of greenhouse gas emissions and avoid a global temperature increase of two degrees Celsius.
Goodman: Surviving a CIA ‘Black Site’18 Dec 2007The kidnap and torture program of the Bush administration, with its secret CIA “black site” prisons and “torture taxi” flights on private jets, saw a little light of day this week. I spoke to Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah in his first broadcast interview.
Tokar: Why No Real Progress at Bali Climate Talks? Toward a People’s Agenda for Climate Justice18 Dec 2007With all the fanfare that usually accompanies such gatherings, delegates to the recent UN climate talks on the Indonesian island of Bali returned to their home countries declaring victory. Despite the continued obstructionism of the US delegation, the negotiators reached a mild consensus for continued negotiations on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, and at the very last moment were able to cajole and pressure the US to sign on.
Solnit: The Secret Library of Hope17 Dec 2007Hope is an orientation, a way of scanning the wall for cracks—or building ladders—rather than staring at its obdurate expanse. It’s a worldview, but one informed by experience and the knowledge that people have power; that the power people possess matters; that change has been made by populist movements and dedicated individuals in the past; and that it will be again.
Swanson: Italians Block Construction of U.S. Base17 Dec 2007The people of the northern Italian city of Vicenza, with help from activists around Italy, the rest of Europe, and even in the United States, are continuing to block the proposed construction of a new U.S.
Hijab: Struggle for equality17 Dec 2007In recent months a small group of Palestinian and Israeli academics, mainly in the diaspora, have prepared an intellectual bombshell to challenge the Palestinian leadership on the almost 40-year basic premise of an independent Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel. The division over the question of one state or two states is now as dramatic as the Hamas-Fatah fighting of the last year, which split the armed resistance.
Al-Akhras: What Is After Annapolis?17 Dec 2007On the 60th anniversary of the UN partition plan, President Bush invited the conflicting parties of the Middle East to Annapolis, Maryland. It seems that President Bush wanted to have a legacy for being a broker of a long-awaited peace deal between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Cendrars: Search for A One-Armed, Disarming Woman17 Dec 2007In June, 1915 Alvaro Obregon (“O’Brien”) Salido, trying to get an overview of the battlefield around Silao, Mexico, ascended a bell-tower in the Santa Ana hacienda, a key strategic center midst the horrific surrounding warfare. One of Pancho Villa’s shells immediately tore off Obregon’s right arm, and -convinced that he was mortally wounded- the Irish-Mexican from Sonora took out his pistola.
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