Month: November 2007

PRAGUE – The US proposal to set up an anti-missile defense system in Eastern Europe has drawn the Czech Republic into a high-level diplomatic debate between Moscow and Washington for which they may not be fully prepared. The defense system would have two elements: a radar in the Czech Republic and an antimissile base in … Continue reading “US, Russia at Impasse on Radar”

Well, then what do we have to be thankful for? Let me count the ways …. 1. Bush hasn’t gone to war with Iran – yet. Now that’s a big one, but I don’t think we should be overwhelmed with gratitude. Let us, instead, give thanks that we still have time to stop it, or … Continue reading “What Antiwar Activists Have to Be Thankful For”

BAGHDAD – The executions of former regime officials are creating greater division, rather than reconciliation, among Iraqis. Special courts formed by the American occupation authorities in Iraq are issuing death sentences – like that carried out on former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, on 30 December 2006 – on what many Iraqis are interpreting as a … Continue reading “Executions Not Leading to Iraqi Reconciliation”

The Annapolis conference is a joke. Though not in the least funny. Like quite a lot of political initiatives, this one too, according to all the indications, started more or less by accident. George Bush was due to make a speech. He was looking for a theme that would give it some substance. Something that … Continue reading “The Joke in Annapolis: How to Get Out?”

Capitol Hill was recently roiled by an issue of no obvious concern to America: the World War I genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire against its Armenian population. But the tendency of Washington policymakers to concoct foreign policy to satisfy influential interest groups has become quite common, from Haiti to Israel to Eastern Europe to … Continue reading “Interest Group Foreign Policy”

Updated at 12:20 a.m. EST, Nov. 23, 2007Mortars rained on the Green Zone has American troops there were celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday. The British base in Basra also received a round of shelling. At least 66 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 36 were wounded throughout Iraq. No Coalition deaths were reported. In … Continue reading “Thursday: 66 Iraqis Killed, 36 Wounded”

The George W. Bush administration’s legal justification for continuing to hold prisoners without charges at the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba will be back in the US Supreme Court – yet again – early next month. And the decision of the nine justices could bring the entire administration’s detention policy down in flames … Continue reading “Gitmo Policy Faces Another Supreme Court Test”

BAGHDAD – Increasing conflict and finger pointing between leading Shi’ite political blocs are heightening instability in war-torn Iraq. "It is said in the Arab world that if thieves were not seen while stealing, they would be seen while dividing the loot," Wayil Hikmet, an Iraqi historian in Baghdad told IPS. "That is what goes for … Continue reading “Shi’ite Infighting Increases Instability”

Despite near-universal skepticism about the prospects for launching a serious, new Middle East peace process at next week’s Israeli-Palestinian summit in Annapolis, a familiar clutch of neoconservative hawks close to the Likud Party leader, former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, isn’t taking any chances. Hard-liners associated with the American Enterprise Institute and Freedom’s Watch, a … Continue reading “Likudnik Hawks Work to Undermine Annapolis”

What do the current Pakistani political crisis, Israel’s September air strike against Syria, and Iran’s continued pursuit of nuclear enrichment all have in common? All three events reflect the aggressive policies adopted by the George W. Bush administration to deal with the growing threat of nuclear proliferation. As US soft power in the region diminishes … Continue reading “The Nuclear Cowboys”