Month: May 2006

Why did the Bush regime create a crisis over Iran? The answer is that the Bush regime is desperate to widen the war in the Middle East. What has Iran done? Unlike Israel, Pakistan, and India, countries that developed nuclear weapons on the sly, Iran signed the nonproliferation treaty. Countries that sign this treaty have … Continue reading “How Bush Brewed the Iranian Crisis”

“Cherishing children is the mark of a civilized society.” – Joan Ganz Cooney If, as I would like to believe, the above quote suggests all children and not merely those born in Western democracies, I am no longer certain that we live in a civilized society. That women and children suffer the most during times … Continue reading “Iraq’s Dispensable Children”

I wait for him on a quiet, tree and wisteria-lined street of red-brick buildings. Students, some in short-sleeves on this still crisp spring morning, stream by. I’m seated on cold, stone steps next to a sign announcing the Boston University Department of International Relations. He turns the corner and advances, wearing a blue blazer, blue … Continue reading “The Delusions of
Global Hegemony”

Montenegro’s Separatists Win After seven years of frustrated attempts, the separatist regime in Montenegro celebrated victory Sunday night, as it managed to drum up the 55.5 percent of the votes necessary to win the independence referendum. What would be a landslide in any Western election was actually the narrowest of margins in Montenegro, as the … Continue reading “Claiming the Black Mountain”

A story authored by a prominent U.S. neoconservative regarding new legislation in Iran allegedly requiring Jews and other religious minorities to wear distinctive color badges circulated around the world this weekend before it was exposed as false. The article by a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Iranian-American Amir Taheri, was initially published in … Continue reading “Iran the Target of Disinformation Campaign”

There’s a lot of hype about Iraq’s new “government.” In a speech to the National Restaurant Association in Chicago, George Bush called the new government a “turning point in the struggle between freedom and terror.” He called the government “something new” – a constitutional democracy in the heart of the Middle East. One thing it … Continue reading “Don’t Believe the
Handover Hype”

JERUSALEM – When he began contemplating his first visit to the United States as prime minister a few weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert must have thought that his plan for a unilateral withdrawal in the West Bank would win him accolades in Washington and would guarantee a successful trip. After all, his predecessor, … Continue reading “Israel Confronts New Withdrawal Symptoms”

In recent weeks, the Bush administration has stated its willingness to use diplomacy in dealing with Iran, which is a welcome change from previous policy. Let’s hope it’s more than just a change in tone. With ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan costing more than $5 billion per week, record levels of federal spending and … Continue reading “Avoiding War With Iran”

At last week’s Conference on Disarmament, Stephen Rademaker, acting assistant secretary, international security and nonproliferation, submitted a draft Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT) that would be acceptable to the Bush-Cheney administration. In September 1993, President Bill Clinton had called for a "multilateral" convention banning the production of "fissile materials" for use in nuclear weapons, and … Continue reading “Another Coalition of the Willing?”

The gangster is an American icon, long glamorized in folklore, film, and song, and it is therefore hardly surprising that this devotion to the cult of thuggery should manifest itself in our foreign and military policy. From Jimmy Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931) to Marlon Brando in The Godfather trilogy, the image of the … Continue reading “American Gangsterism”