The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is trying once again to discover who was rounded up by the Department of Homeland Security in the weeks preceding the November 2004 presidential election "to assure the Arab-American and Muslim communities that they are not being impacted on a disproportionate basis." But it is not very hopeful. The group …
Continue reading “Tom Ridge’s October Surprise”
The nomination of one of President George W. Bush’s closest advisors to lead U.S. public diplomacy efforts has been met with both hope and skepticism by some leaders in the U.S. foreign policy community. "You need someone who knows something serious about the Middle East publics and is willing to engage them on their terms," …
Continue reading “Propaganda War Gets a New General”
The most intriguing aspect of U.S. President George W. Bush’s nomination of Karen Hughes to take charge of Washington’s public diplomacy apparatus – and particularly outreach to the Islamic world – is the building out of which she will be working. The decision to put Hughes, who, along with Karl Rove, has been Bush’s closest …
Continue reading “Ultimate Bush Insider Joins Rice at State Department”
In our media lives, Asia plays a remarkably small and fragmented role, given its growing importance in the world. In our press, coverage of Asia is a strange jumble of alarums, fears, and trends: the North Korean bomb, avian flu and SARS, the tsunami, the Taiwan “war bill,” the growth of the Chinese Navy, anime …
Continue reading “Coming to Terms With China”
Editorial note: This is the text of a speech delivered before at audience at the Whittier Law School, in Whittier, California, on March 15. Does the media have an obligation to tell the truth? In discussing my topic with Joe Varada – who was kind enough to ask me here to speak to you – …
Continue reading “Handmaiden of the State”
“We do not negotiate with terrorists!” How many times have we heard statesmen so declaim, even as they worked back channels to cut deals with the men with bloody hands with whom they publicly refused, on principle, to negotiate? FDR negotiated with Stalin, who conducted what historian Robert Conquest calls “The Great Terror.” Nixon went …
Continue reading “New Democrats: Hamas and Hezbollah”
Just an hour north of the Mexican border, at the base of the cloud-capped Huachuca Mountains, sits a military base with a long history of covert military action. In its early days as a military fort, it was the location of the capture of Geronimo, the last Apache warrior to resist the United States. More …
Continue reading “Interrogators for Hire”
http://www.independent.org/tii/antiwar/e050315.html
Political movements require momentum; they need to constantly build and aggregate. When they take a lengthy break from organizing and stop the momentum, it is difficult to restart. During the Vietnam War, there was a consistent expansion of antiwar efforts. Every year, the movement built and grew. Antiwar activists did not take breaks during election …
Continue reading “Restarting the Antiwar Movement”
"After the shooting, the U.S. military said that the vehicle carrying the Italians was speeding and refused to stop, and that a U.S. patrol tried to warn the driver with hand and arm signals, by flashing white lights and firing shots in front of the car and into the car’s engine block. … Prime Minister …
Continue reading “The Eyewitnesses Must Be Crazy” 
