ASUNCION - Despite the government's continued denials, analysts and activists have raised the alarm over the possible installation of a U.S. military base in Paraguay, especially after Congress granted permission for U.S. armed forces contingents to remain in the...
After 10-Year Hiatus, Pentagon Eyes New Landmine
The George W. Bush administration may soon resume production of antipersonnel land mines in a move that is at odds with both the international community and previous U.S. policy on the weapons, says a leading human rights organization. In December of this year, the...
Labor Takes Its Stand Against Empire
It is just about the oldest plot cliché there is. As you eagerly anticipate the climax, the villain appears to have subdued everyone who ever thought of standing in his way and is on the precipice of triumph, when suddenly, from out of nowhere, his first victim who...
World Movement for Democracy: Made in the USA
The "world's democratic movement" is not another one of the transnational citizens' movements, like the anti-globalization or antiwar movements, that prides itself on having no central structure, no dogma, or even an office. This movement is highly organized, better...
Preempting Cheney
Whatever plans Dick Cheney and his neoconservatives may have had to conjure up a nuclear threat from Iran as "justification" for military action have been sharply undercut by some timely leaks to the Washington Post. In a redux of President George W. Bush's spin on...
Remembering the Storm
Anniversary of a Victorious Crime In the early morning hours of Aug. 4, 1995, on the heels of an incessant artillery and air bombardment, some 200,000 Croatian troops moved in to "liberate" Krajina, a stretch of mountains inhabited by Serbs who had rejected Croatia's...
It’s That Pesky Prisoner Abuse Scandal Again…
As the U.S. Congress left town for its August vacation, the George W. Bush administration was congratulating itself on its legislative victories. But when Congress returns in September – aside from the confirmation hearings for Judge John Roberts to be the next...
The Selling of Brand Kurdistan
As chaos continues across much of Iraq, the governing authority is coming to yet another crossroads. Inside the Green Zone – the location of the U.S. Embassy and major Iraqi government offices – officials are struggling to forge an acceptable constitution by...
With Friends Like This…
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was due for a visit to Washington last week, but failed to show: the excuse given was another uptick in violence on the West Bank, but Israeli sources indicated the real reason: Mofaz is miffed that the U.S. is now demanding a...
National Defense for a Republic
I spent last week in Pittsfield, Maine, at a symposium on modern war called by Colonel Mike Wyly, USMC retired. Col. Wyly was one of the heroes of the maneuver warfare movement in the Marine Corps in the 1970s and '80s, and when he suggests it's time for a new effort,...