Month: December 2008

Unwilling to control its fighters, who fired scores of missiles into Israel at the end of their six-month cease-fire, Hamas gave Israel the provocation it needed to deliver a savage blow to the Palestinian enclave in Gaza. Saturday was the bloodiest day in the history of the Palestinian people since being driven from their homes … Continue reading “Bush, Obama, and
the Gaza Blitz”

Israel’s massive three-day aerial assault on Gaza is likely to complicate President-elect Barack Obama’s hopes of aggressively pursuing Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, and it risks inflicting greater damage to Washington’s standing in the Arab world, according to analysts. Indeed, if the current campaign goes on much longer and the Israelis launch a major ground invasion of … Continue reading “Israeli Attack May Complicate Obama’s Plans”

Defense Minister Ehud Barak (the Hebrew surname means “lightning," German “Blitz”) did it again: a historic record of over 200 Palestinians killed in a single Sabbath’s blitz (Dec. 27). Polls now predict five additional Knesset seats for his Labor Party in the coming February general election. That’s 40 Palestinian corpses per seat. No wonder he … Continue reading “Pacifying Gaza”

Israelis and Arabs "feel that only force can assure justice," I. F. Stone noted soon after the Six-Day War in 1967. And he wrote: "A certain moral imbecility marks all ethnocentric movements. The Others are always either less than human, and thus their interests may be ignored, or more than human and therefore so dangerous … Continue reading “A Hundred Eyes for an Eye”

The neoconservatives are drifting back into the Democratic Party fold from whence they came, attempting to limit the terms of the discourse on foreign and security policy so there will be no surprises from the new administration. Media neocons like Bill Kristol and David Brooks are jumping on the Hillary bandwagon, convinced that she will, … Continue reading “Neocons, NYT Demand More War, Torture”

Updated 7:58 p.m. EST, Dec. 29, 2008At least nine Iraqis were killed and nine more were wounded during a light day of violence. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, Britain hopes to finalize a security agreement with Iraq before the U.N. mandate runs out. Also, Sweden demanded due process for a Swedish citizen held in … Continue reading “Monday: 9 Iraqis Killed, 9 Wounded”

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Anger, shock, and revulsion at the continuing carnage in Gaza has ignited spontaneous demonstrations and riots across the West Bank and Israel, sparking concerns of a possible third Palestinian uprising, or Intifada. More than 300 Palestinians were killed and at least 900 wounded following an intensive Israeli air bombing campaign over … Continue reading “Gaza Carnage Sets West Bank Aflame”

If you’re looking for the cause of the most recent Israeli aggression against the Palestinians – over 300 killed so far, and many more wounded – forget Hamas. The real casus belli is politics, in Israel and America. On the Israeli front, elections loom large. The current Israeli government is enormously unpopular, and – with … Continue reading “The Politics of the Gaza Massacre”

As President-elect Barack Obama vacationed in Hawaii on Dec. 26, stopping off to watch a dolphin show with his family at Sea Life Park, an Israeli air raid besieged the impoverished Gaza Strip, killing at least 285 people and injuring over 800 more. It was the single deadliest attack on Gaza in over 20 years, … Continue reading “No Comment and
No Leadership From Obama”

I wrote a few weeks ago that President-elect Obama might face something resembling a foreign policy crisis early on involving India and Pakistan, which would implicate Afghanistan and the entire U.S. approach to the "war on terror." Recent, potentially ominous troop movements suggest that border-area problems and disputes, while they might be resolved by the … Continue reading “Meek Oil”