When newly appointed CIA Director Porter Goss recently warned that China's modernization of its military posed a direct threat to the U.S., was it standard budget time scare tactics? Or did it signal the growing influence of hard-liners in the Bush administration who...
Don’t Be Spun by the Spin
President Bush will hail his trip to Europe as a resounding success. He hails everything he does as a resounding success regardless of the evidence to the contrary. All politicians do that. Lest you be spun by the spin, note that he comes home with only one tangible...
Why Israel Really Fears Iranian Nukes, Part Two
The acquisition of a nuclear warhead by any country, whether a friend or foe of the United States, is a development of not merely military significance. Instead it necessarily has immense political importance both to a domestic audience and on a wider international...
India Talks Down to Its Neighbors
Last week, India spelled out its emerging thinking and policy toward its neighbors in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). In a public speech, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran – the chief of the Indian diplomatic service – announced a...
‘Anti-Islamist’ Crusader Plants New Seeds
Despite the apparent decision by President George W. Bush against re-nominating him to the board of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), "anti-Islamist" activist Daniel Pipes is working as diligently as ever to protect the United States and the Western world...
Hariri’s Murder Only the Beginning
Indulging in speculation regarding the identity of Lebanese former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri's real assassins is of little value now. What demands urgent scrutiny is how his murder will play a large part in the remolding of Lebanon's role in the Arab-Israeli...
A Pattern of Deception
Let's look at two recent instances of political violence directed against a popular figure who has come to symbolize the democratic hopes of his people: the similarities between the death of Rafik Hariri and the attempted assassination and disfigurement of Viktor...
Mending Fences With Russia?
It is difficult enough to try to figure out what President Bush's real goals are during his current whirlwind trip to Europe. It is more than possible that the trip has more to do with asserting imperial dominion – or at least reminding people that the United...
Student in ‘Rendition’ Case Returns to US for Trial
Even as defense attorneys were filing court papers charging that the U.S. government was hiding behind secret evidence, and demanding their client's release from a Saudi Arabian prison, Ahmed Abu Ali was being whisked back to the United States and charged with...
World Bank and US: Palestinians Should Pay for Israeli Checkpoints
WASHINGTON - The World Bank, an international development institution that says it has no political agenda, may be preparing to fund Israeli security checkpoints around a controversial separation wall under construction on occupied Palestinian territories. Israel is...