Month: October 2008

Leading human rights groups reacted with outrage Tuesday to media reports that the administration of President George W. Bush has decided not to close the iconic prison at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Quoting anonymous senior Bush administration officials, the New York Times reported that the issue would in effect be "kicked … Continue reading “Next President Will Inherit Guantanamo Dilemma”

Seventeen Chinese Muslims who have been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for seven years will now have to wait still longer to discover whether a U.S. appeals court will confirm or reverse a judge’s earlier decision that they be immediately released into the United States. Monday, a split federal appeals court refused to allow the immediate … Continue reading “Freedom Recedes for Uighurs at Guantanamo”

GAZA CITY – The letter of acceptance that 28-year-old Hazem Hussain got for a business graduate program in a California university once brought joy. Now he does not know what to do with it. He has admission and a visa to the U.S., but the Israelis will not let him leave. "I have tried to … Continue reading “Israel Targets Palestinian Students”

By now, everyone is familiar with the advertising slogan "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" (although the actual Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Slogan is "What happens here, stays here"). The phrase is also the inspiration for a movie starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. Apparently, it’s also how the Maryland State Police have … Continue reading “What Happens in a Police State…”

On the brief occasions when the president now appears in the Rose Garden to “comfort” or “reassure” a shock-and-awed nation, you can almost hear those legions of ducks quacking lamely in the background. Once upon a time, George W. Bush, along with his top officials and advisers, hoped to preside over a global Pax Americana … Continue reading “The Bush Doctrine in Ruins”

In the midst of a softball interview with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, New York Times reporter Deborah Solomon hurls this zinger: "For all your lofty talk about democracy, last November you shut down the opposition television station in Tbilisi." To the oily Saakashvili, however, this is water off a duck’s back: "The interference with Imedi … Continue reading “The War Party Embraces Obama”

The five-day Russo-Georgian war in the Caucasus brought into sharp focus many conflicts rooted in the region’s history and in aggressive U.S.-NATO policies since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Notable among these were the military encirclement of Russia and attempts to control energy resources in areas long dominated by the Soviet Union. The net … Continue reading “Challenging US Global Dominance”

There are only so many catastrophes a citizen can deal with. Canada’s election started off as a non-election based on The Strong Leadership of Stephen Harper, but as it turned out, Strong Leadership hadn’t counted on the environment being a hot button, which it was. Coincidentally, there occurred a global economic meltdown that Strong Leadership … Continue reading “Blind Spot: Afghanistan in Canada’s Federal Election”

Updated at 7:35 p.m .EDT, Oct. 21, 2008Yet another mass grave was discovered today. Like the others this week, the victims were buried for months, if not years. Overall, at least 27 Iraqis were killed or found dead, and another 56 were wounded in the latest reports. Also, Kazakhstan pulled its troops out of Iraq, … Continue reading “Tuesday: 27 Iraqis Killed, 56 Wounded”

I have suggested in previous columns that the al-Qaeda model of 4GW may be failing for inherent reasons, i.e., for reasons it cannot fix. "Tom Ricks’s Inbox" in the Oct. 19 Washington Post offers some confirmation of that assessment. Ricks writes: "Where did al-Qaeda in Iraq go wrong? In a paper prepared for the recent … Continue reading “Al-Qaeda in Iraq:
Another Case of Failed Interventionism?”