Month: January 2005

Six months in jail – for a wanton murder. That’s fair, now isn’t it? It is if the victim is Iraqi, and the murderers are four American soldiers – that’s what a military court recently decided, and it’s a verdict that tells us everything we need to know about the “liberation” of Iraq. Jan. 3, … Continue reading “America’s Death Squads”

NEW YORK – For the first time, many more civilians are being killed and maimed in Afghanistan by dud munitions than by landmines, which were more or less outlawed in 1999 but linger around the world as the wreckage of earlier wars. A study published in Friday’s British Medical Journal [.pdf] says that the biggest … Continue reading “Waste of War Still Killing in Afghanistan”

Mohamed ElBaradei will serve a third term as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Since abject failure appears to be among the criteria for being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, look for John Bolton – currently undersecretary of state – to be the next recipient. You see, Bolton has been "point … Continue reading “ElBaradei 1, Bolton 0”

This timeless article first appeared on June 12, 2000 The sheer amount of writing done by the late Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995) continues to astound. The quality of his work accounts for the impact it has had, and the attention it now draws, but its volume cannot have hurt, either. Rothbard spread the word about … Continue reading “Murray N. Rothbard on States, War, and Peace: Part I”

Amman – Families of some U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq plan a strong protest to mark the second anniversary of the invasion. The group ‘Military Families Speak Out’ will hold a demonstration in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in the United States March 19. As of now 1,340 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq. "We’ll be … Continue reading “US Military Families Bring Help”

Last week the Bush administration was publicly rebuked by Richard Lugar for a reported U.S. plan to keep some suspected terrorists imprisoned for a lifetime even if the government lacks evidence to charge them. Lugar said, “It’s a bad idea. So we ought to get over it and we ought to have a very careful, … Continue reading “Gonzales at Justice and Lynndie in the Trash”

Measure Iraq any way you want and it adds up to disaster: Less electricity is now being delivered than in the Saddam Hussein years; infant malnourishment has, according to a Norwegian study, doubled in the same time period (“It’s on the level of some African countries,” says the deputy director of the institute that conducted … Continue reading “Iraq: The Devastation”

There will be no peace in Palestine. Don’t be fooled by statements of politicians and by the press’s careful avoidance of reporting the real facts of the situation. The bulk of the Jewish settlements – around 200,000 people – are in the West Bank. The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has made it plain that … Continue reading “No Peace in Palestine”

According to various reporters, last week Mohammed ElBaradei – Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency – "urged North Korea to promptly resume multilateral negotiations on dismantling its nuclear weapons programs." He didn’t. Here is what ElBaradei actually said; "I would like to see the six-party talks restarted as early as possible. "I’d like … Continue reading “ElBaradei and North Korea”

Yu Bin’s recent article for Asia Times Online is a very Sinocentric view of the growing pains East Asia will face as the region grows increasingly more influential and substantially richer. Yu Bin goes into three major problems: China’s relationship with its own poor and underemployed, China’s relationship with Japan, and China’s relationship with Taiwan. … Continue reading “Issues for East Asia: A Sinocentric View”