Month: July 2005

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh begins his visit to the United States next week amidst indications that India is preparing to shed the last vestiges of its earlier policy of nonalignment and enter into a stronger, indeed unprecedented, “strategic partnership” with Washington. This would see the two countries launch joint military operations in the future, especially … Continue reading “India Moves Toward a New Compact with the United States”

The state of Israel – which, the last time I checked, was both a foreign and a sovereign nation – wants the American taxpayers to cough up $2.2 billion in addition to our regular $3 billion-or-so annual subsidy to pay for the withdrawal from Gaza. Unless the American people raise hell about this, it’s a … Continue reading “A Quarter of a Million Dollars Per Settler”

What if Karl Rove isn’t guilty of knowingly leaking Valerie Plame‘s name as a covert CIA agent involved in nuclear proliferation issues? What if Rove’s lawyer, Robert Luskin, is correct when he says that he’s been assured by prosecutors that his client is not a target of the ongoing investigation into Plame-gate? I’m going to … Continue reading “Rove-gate: Who Leaked
to the Leakers?”

The U.S. Army general widely considered the architect of abusive prisoner interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and detention centers in Afghanistan used "creative" and "aggressive" tactics, but did not practice torture or violate law or Pentagon policy, the head of the U.S. Southern Command has determined. Despite the recommendations of military investigators, Maj. … Continue reading “Abuse Probes End With Single Reprimand”

Concerns about "Islamic extremism" and disapproval over violence motivated by it are growing in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries, according to a major new survey that also found declining support for Osama bin Laden in most of the Islamic world, with the exception of Jordan and Pakistan. The survey, released here Thursday by the Pew … Continue reading “‘Islamic Extremism’ Alienates Most in Muslim World”

Until very recently, an article titled "Hunt for Cops" might have described a city’s effort to recruit more police officers. Sadly, that was not the message of an article in the July 3, 2005, Cleveland Plain Dealer, my hometown newspaper. "Residents of the capital of the poor and chaotic Russian province of Dagestan have come … Continue reading “Hunting for Cops”

KARACHI – Prominent citizens in this country are calling for a deeper understanding of the complex situation that led to the July 7 London bombings as British police confirmed that three of the bombers were of Pakistani descent and probably trained here or in neighboring Afghanistan. Noted political commentator and author A.R. Siddiqui said he … Continue reading “Pakistan Analysts Link London Blasts to Afghanistan”

I don’t remember how long I have been using Leon Hadar for his insights into the Middle East and the complications engendered by the prolonged and increasingly aggressive American interventions – indeed, as Leon puts it, the ongoing efforts to establish the United States as the hegemonic power – in that endemically troubled region. The … Continue reading “In Search of a New Middle Eastern Paradigm”

London Terror MysteryAwesome piece! I have one significant bone to pick; and that is the absence of analysis of the splits within Israel. These splits are as (in?)significant as those between neocons, paleocons and CIA/State Dept./Clinton/Scowcrofts. I believe that the appropriate way to look at this entire crisis is as a significant realignment of a … Continue reading “Backtalk, July 15, 2005”

Battered by sagging poll numbers, new doubts in the aftermath of the London bombings about the effectiveness of its war on terrorism, and no letup in the bad news out of Iraq, the White House has found itself this week embroiled in yet another controversy, one that threatens the credibility, if not the tenure, of … Continue reading “‘Bush’s Brain’ Besieged”