Month: December 2008

One of the biggest foreign policy challenges facing the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama will be reinvigorating what looks like a completely stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Repeated failures in the struggle for peace make clear that a change in direction is needed. And many observers think that taking advantage of the Arab Peace Initiative … Continue reading “Regional Players Key to Salvaging Peace Process”

Is it really possible that President-elect Barack Obama intends to break his campaign promise to “end the war” in Iraq, and keep US troops in that country well beyond the sixteen month timetable for withdrawal he advocated during the campaign? The answer, according to the New York Times, is a fairly certain yes: “On the … Continue reading “A Loud Silence”

[Note for Readers: To listen to a TomDispatch audio interview with journalist Anand Gopal about the difficulties involved in reporting from Afghanistan, click here.] Just when the Obama presidency-to-be was revving up to introduce its new national security “team” and reformulate US policy in Afghanistan and the Pakistani border regions, the Afghan War ratcheted up … Continue reading “Who Are the Taliban?”

“In a government of law, the existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the … Continue reading “Washington Arrogance Has Fomented a Muslim Revolution”

Updated at 7:35 p.m. EST, Dec. 4, 2008At least 98 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 177 were wounded in today’s attack. Two U.S. soldiers were killed during a suicide bombing and a British soldier died during a shooting incident as well. A significant bombing occurred in Fallujah, while mass graves continue to … Continue reading “Thursday: 2 GIs, 1 UK Soldier, 98 Iraqis Killed; 177 Iraqis Wounded”

It is a commonly held belief that the current international order dates back to World War Two, with a slight adjustment for the fact that the Berlin Wall and Communism are no more. While it is true that 1945 and 1990 mark the starting points for many things that are now taken for granted, the … Continue reading “Triumph of Tragedy”

As a group of retired military leaders prepared to urge US President-elect Barack Obama to quickly put an end to the harsh interrogation practices inflicted on security prisoners, a new United Nations report charged that Iraqi authorities were committing "grave human rights violations" in their treatment of thousands of detainees. "Grave human rights violations … … Continue reading “Ret. Officers Urge Obama to Expunge ‘Stain of Torture’”

Updated at 7:45 p.m. EST, Dec. 3, 2008Defense Secretary Robert Gates has made the accelerated withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq a high priority in the coming months. Violent attacks left at least 21 Iraqis killed and another 16 Iraqis wounded. A blast in the Green Zone left an unknown number of casualties as well, … Continue reading “Wednesday: 21 Iraqis Killed, 16 Wounded”

The incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama should move quickly to engage Iran without preconditions and to promote an Israeli-Syrian peace accord, according to two veteran Middle East experts whose views are likely to have influence over Obama’s just-announced foreign policy team. Obama should also "make a serious effort from the outset to promote progress … Continue reading “Obama Urged to Quickly Engage Iran, Syria”

The Mumbai massacre comes at a time when the U.S. is about to switch battlefields in its avowedly “generational” war on terrorism, from the Middle East to South Asia. As we move our forces eastward into Afghanistan and, inevitably, Pakistan, the events in Mumbai light up the geopolitical landscape like lightning at midnight, prefiguring a … Continue reading “The Meaning of Mumbai”