Category: Uncategorized

The Bush-Cheney Pentagon is reportedly putting finishing touches on a plan to preemptively nuke Iran for insisting on its inalienable right – guaranteed by (a) the Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, (b) the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and (c) their Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA – to enjoy the peaceful uses … Continue reading “A Way Out for Iran?”

America and Iran: At the Brink of the Abyss Day after day, I get more and more appalled by the prospect of an imminent nuclear attack on Iran; not only because I was raised in Iran and I do not want to see my 2,500-year-old country be destroyed by nukes, but also because the aftermath … Continue reading “Backtalk, February 27, 2006”

A few days ago, I was at lunch with a colleague, an ex-military man, and the talk got to politics. I mentioned that the government was never going to voluntarily shrink in size; it would only collapse in on itself through bankruptcy. He said that he had a lot of respect for Paul Martin, Canada’s … Continue reading “The Fantasy of State Protection”

America’s Sunni Islamist opponents must be ever more strongly sensing that Allah truly is on their side. Currently, this perception is due not only to the recent victory of the Islamist party Hamas in Palestine’s parliamentary elections, but more especially because of the U.S. reaction to that success. That reaction probably has polished off any … Continue reading “Embracing a Lethal Tar Baby”

One has only to look at the headlines coming out of Iraq to see that the moment of truth has arrived: the Iraqi government is warning of an "endless civil war"; mosques across Iraq, including the "Golden Mosque" in Samarra, were targeted in a wave of sectarian attacks, and 60 were killed in just one … Continue reading “Moment of Truth”

On a cloudless day, the sky a brilliant, late-afternoon blue, my car winds its way up the Berkeley hills. Plum and pear trees in glorious whites and pinks burst into sight at each turn in the road. Beds of yellow flowers, trees hung with lemons, and the odd palm are surrounded by the green of … Continue reading “You Can Do Anything With a Bayonet Except Sit on It”

In Yemen, every government institution – the military, enforcement agencies, courts, detention centers, etc. – is under the strict control of the dictatorship. The prison from which the 23 al-Qaeda members escaped is known as the detention center for military intelligence, directly answerable to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. This is no Mickey Mouse jail. It … Continue reading “Yemen: Behind the al-Qaeda ‘Jailbreak’”

Hamas’ history is deeply intertwined with the last stretch of Arafat’s life and his sudden death. It was the disappearance of Arafat’s secret treasury (estimated between $700 million and $2 billion) that paved the way to Hamas’ recent victory in the Palestinian elections. Everybody remembers the Fatah leadership’s desperate, and eventually unsuccessful, attempt to gain … Continue reading “Handicapping Hamas”

The Greenies aren’t particularly upset with President Bush for launching – on false pretenses – an unauthorized war of aggression against Iraq three years ago. Nevertheless, the Greenies are extremely upset with Bush. Why? Well, for one thing, up until now, Bush hasn’t taken the threat of global warming seriously. Sir David King, her majesty’s … Continue reading “Placating the Greenies”

Fifty years ago today, Nikita Khrushchev gave his Secret Speech to the Closed Session of the Twentieth Party Congress in which he denounced Joseph Stalin. At that time, Khrushchev, the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, held the most powerful political office in the world. The power that Stalin had accumulated … Continue reading “Lest We Forget”