Month: November 2004

In a world where “democracy” means anything the Empire wants it to mean, and is used as a tool of conquest, it stands to reason that Powers that Love Democracy meet any actual instances thereof (flawed as they may be) with unrelenting hostility. Conversely, any abuses of democracy – such as elections in occupied Kosovo … Continue reading “The ‘Right’ to Remain Silent”

As Iran moves toward a diplomatic agreement with Britain, France, and Germany to freeze parts of its nuclear program, its right-wing security forces are cracking down hard against the country’s besieged reformist movement, according to human rights groups here. About half a dozen prominent activists who use the Internet and Weblogs to communicate with other … Continue reading “Rights Groups Condemn Iranian Crackdown”

If there is one point on which all of America’s leaders, civilian and military, seem to agree, it is that the United States must remain on the offensive in the misnamed "War on Terrorism." The offensive is the only form of war that offers hope for a decisive victory. Clausewitz would disagree. In his On … Continue reading “Toward a Defensive Approach to National Defense”

The biggest source of speculation about President George W. Bush’s foreign policy in a second term is if it will continue on the same aggressive trajectory that marked the first, or whether, chastened by Iraq, it will be more restrained over the next four years. Much will, of course, depend on who will get which … Continue reading “Springtime for Spooks?”

“One of the first things you learn in the military,” my father was saying during the monthly call I put through to his home in South Africa, “is to stay mum about impending operations. Soldiers’ lives depend on it.” Dad, who had served in the Israeli Defense Force reserves, was baffled by the American military’s … Continue reading “The Big Dog’s Lapdogs”

RAMALLAH – The remarks by Yasser Arafat’s wife Suha must have rattled the Palestinian leadership and some in the media back in Ramallah. She said some temporary leaders are conspiring to bury her husband alive. She added that he was fine and would return. The fear of Yasser Arafat’s return informs the behavior of many … Continue reading “Reporting Arafat Becomes Another Crisis”

What next for the War Party? Like a giant anaconda after a humongous meal, the monster is hardly finished with the process of swallowing its latest prey, let alone digesting it. Yet the hunger that drives it is relentless and the creature is already eyeing the next course: Iran. Dan Sneider, foreign affairs writer for … Continue reading “Another War?”

The military machine is ravaging Fallujah in yet another “final clamp down” in neighborhoods not unlike our own. I worry about the people there who are like my mother, bedridden and on oxygen – she could never simply “leave the city,” as Allawi and his U.S. masters callously commanded women and children to do if … Continue reading “The ‘Christian Nation’ Bombs Again”

The blasts of mortars exploding in the so-called "Green Zone" are thumping out my window as I type tonight. The blades of military helicopters chop the air as they circle above the area looking for, well, looking for something. "I know what they are doing to us – they are putting is in a big … Continue reading “The Fire of Resistance Is Spreading”

NEW YORK – "It’s always a fight to find out what the government doesn’t want us to know. It’s a fight we’re once again losing. … [President Bush] has clamped a lid on public access. … It’s not just historians and journalists he wants locked out; it’s Congress … and it’s you, the public, and … Continue reading “Secrecy Cloaked During Election Campaign”