Month: January 2007

The Chicago-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) has moved the minute hand of the legendary Doomsday Clock forward by two minutes to show that the world is now only five minutes away from the ultimate catastrophe, or the end of civilization, symbolically represented by the midnight hour. The decision to change the Clock’s setting … Continue reading “Doomsday Clock Ticking Faster”

In recent years American police forces have called out SWAT teams 40,000 or more times annually. Last year did you read in your newspaper or hear on TV news of 110 hostage or terrorist events each day? No. What then were the SWAT teams doing? They were serving routine warrants to people who posed no … Continue reading “The Empire Turns Its
Guns on the Citizenry”

State of the what? Let’s see, 28 percent, 31 percent, 33 percent, 35 percent. That pretty much sums up the state of the president – or, at least, of his ever more dismal approval ratings in four of the latest major polls (and don’t even mention his state of approval in similar nose-diving polls abroad). … Continue reading “The State Spies on the Union”

Antiwar.com is pleased to announce the winners of its first-ever Student Essay Contest, held summer 2006. Today we present Ayn Codina of Costa Rica, 2nd-place winner in the junior division. Alexia Gilmore Executive director, Antiwar.com War can mean power, land, resources, or money. But war also means chaos and losses of money and people. Everything … Continue reading “Death to a Nation”

Updated at 1:00 a.m EST, Jan. 24, 2007 A day after a major bombing in Baghdad, violence rages on. Overall, 100 Iraqis were reported killed or found dead and another 56 were wounded in attacks around the country. Also, five more American servicemembers were killed in separate incidents on Sunday and Monday, and a civilian … Continue reading “Tuesday: 100 Iraqis, 5 GIs Killed; 56 Iraqis Wounded; Helicopter Crash Kills 5 Americans”

After a weekend in which 29 Americans died and the 82nd Airborne deployed in Baghdad, what the Iraq war will mean to the politics of 2008 becomes clear. Hillary Clinton’s early Saturday announcement of her exploratory committee was brilliantly executed and captured front page, cable, and network coverage all weekend. But it was a decision … Continue reading “The X Factor in 2008 – Iran”

There have been pop psychology explanations that attribute President Bush 43’s aggressive foreign policy decisions to a rivalry with President Bush 41 – for example, ascribing junior’s invasion of Iraq as a reaction to his father’s writings about the pitfalls of doing so. Advocates of such explanations must be trumpeting the president’s recent repudiation of … Continue reading “Rebellion Over Iraq:
Son Against Father”

Despite two years of a concentrated effort by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her public diplomacy major-domo Karen Hughes to boost Washington’s global image, more people around the world have an unfavorable opinion of U.S. policies than at any time in recent memory, according to a new BBC poll released Monday. The survey, which … Continue reading “Bush Continues to Unite the World… Against Him”

More than 1,000 active-duty U.S. soldiers have signed a petition to Congress – known as an appeal for redress – calling for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. Among them is Sgt. Ronn Cantu of Los Angeles, Calif. He served in Iraq with the 1st Infantry Division from February 2004 until February 2005 … Continue reading “A US Soldier Speaks Out
From Baghdad”

Former President Carter’s new book about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine has raised the ire of Americans on two sides of the debate. I say “two sides” rather than “both sides,” because there is another perspective that is never discussed in American politics. That perspective is the perspective of our Founding Fathers, namely … Continue reading “The Fatal Conceit
in the Middle East”