Month: June 2005

The U.S. government gave the slave trade a boost by offering money for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. Afghan and Pakistani warlords simply rounded up people who looked Arab or foreign and sold them to the Americans as captured fighters. The "fighters" apparently included relief workers, refugees, and Arab businessmen. The tribunals looking into the classification … Continue reading “Washington Is the Source of Terror”

Among the many unhappy developments in American industry in recent decades has been the advent of "wreck it and run" management. A small coterie of senior managers takes over a company and makes a brilliant show of short-term profits while actually driving the business into the ground. They bail out just before it crashes, cashing … Continue reading “Wreck It and Run”

The Forgotten Balkans Flashpoint When French voters rejected the EU Constitution this past weekend, among the loudest defenders of the EU were leaders of the Balkan countries that aspire to eventual annexation by the bloc, assuring their subjects that the road to untold riches and unimaginable prosperity still led through Brussels: "In every Balkan capital … Continue reading “Battle for Bosnia”

Winston Churchill once remarked that God protects drunks and the United States of America. Fortunately, the divine protection Churchill detected for the United States seems still in place – if we are wise enough to see and take advantage of it. In the past month, America has been blessed by two events that ought to … Continue reading “God, Drunks, and America”

Gagged, but Still Going StrongI have been following Sibel Edmonds’ story avidly since the first time I saw a piece on it on Antiwar.com (the only place I’ve been able to learn about it by the way). There’s not been another story that raises my blood pressure as much as hers does. The blatant abuse … Continue reading “Backtalk, June2, 2005”

WASHINGTON – Stung by Amnesty International’s condemnation of U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and elsewhere overseas, the administration of President George W. Bush is reacting with indignation and even suggestions that terrorists are using the world’s largest human rights organization. The latest denunciation came from Bush himself during a White House press conference Tuesday. “I’m … Continue reading “Bush, Cheney Attack Amnesty International”

The problem with Ukraine’s “orange revolution” was perhaps symbolized by the country’s entry into the Eurovision Song Contest, Greenjolly’s “Razom Nas Bahato” (Together We Are Many). Of course it’s just a coincidence that the song was the election campaign theme of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko‘s party. It was entered at the last minute at the … Continue reading “Follow That ‘Revolution’”

MEXICO CITY – A total of 215 Latino soldiers serving in the U.S. Army have already died in Iraq, but according to antiwar activists, this bad news comes with a silver lining: an ever smaller number of young people of Latin American descent are enlisting in the armed forces. "I’m glad that the Army is … Continue reading “Fewer and Fewer Latinos Willing to Die in Iraq”

On the day that U.S. citizens honored the nation’s war dead, the U.S. armed forces found themselves in a twilight zone somewhere between glory and hell. On the one hand, the U.S. soldier has rarely ridden as high in terms of public image; no politician of stature – neither Democrat nor Republican, neither conservative nor … Continue reading “Military Finds Itself in Twilight Zone”

Even those who have celebrated the recent election in Iraq are concerned that it could give birth to a government dominated by Shi’ite fundamentalist parties that have little respect for the rights of women and minorities. But even those observers worried about the outcome in Iraq take some comfort in the prospect that the liberalization … Continue reading “The ‘Christian Barometer’ and the Middle East”