Month: March 2009

There were once 22 Uighur prisoners in Guantánamo. Muslims from China’s oppressed Xinjiang province, they had all been swept up as human debris during “Operation Enduring Freedom,” the US-led invasion of Afghanistan that began in October 2001. The majority of these men were seized after fleeing to Pakistan from a run-down settlement in Afghanistan’s Tora … Continue reading “A Letter To Barack Obama From A Guantánamo Uighur”

Okay, the new Star Trek film – you know, the prequel with space sex – is premiering in Australia. Go figure. All I know is I’m not beaming there. On the other hand, I’ve already been in close communication with a Trekkie pal, and she and I have chosen our night here in New York. … Continue reading “Aboard the Imperial Star Ship Ameriprise“

Good news is in short supply. The economy remains bleak. The war in Iraq entered its seventh year last week, and violence reaches new pinnacles in Afghanistan. But there is one bright light amid all this gloom. Real progress is being made to ban cluster munitions. These are canisters of different sizes that release hundreds … Continue reading “Progress on Cluster Bombs”

Hollywood’s New Censors Mr. Pilger is certainly one of the best among Western artists and social critics. This article on Hollywood censorship is another example of his acute thinking, highlighted by personal experience and pervasive knowledge of his subject. That said, I believe he could have gone even further in his analysis. Certainly, Hollywood is … Continue reading “Backtalk, March 28, 2008”

Ten years ago today, on March 24, 1999, the Atlantic Empire chose to reveal itself to the world by demonstrating the unchecked power of a fully operational military alliance. After fifty years of keeping "the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down" (in the words of its first Secretary-General, Lord Ismay), NATO stepped … Continue reading “Turning Point”

Updated at 3:53 p.m. EST, Mar. 26, 2009 At least 28 people were killed and 51 more were wounded in the latest attacks. A significant bombing took place in northern Baghdad. Also, a U.S. soldier died of non-combat injuries. Meanwhile, the U.S. military found themselves forced to quickly inspect more than 90,000 facilities in Iraq. … Continue reading “Thursday: 1 US Soldier, 28 Iraqis Killed; 51 Iraqis Wounded”

A newly-formed and still obscure neoconservative foreign policy organization is giving some observers flashbacks to the 1990s, when its predecessor staked out the aggressively unilateralist foreign policy that came to fruition under the George W. Bush administration. The blandly-named Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) – the brainchild of Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, neoconservative foreign policy … Continue reading “Neocons Launch New Foreign Policy Group”

A legal battle being waged by Palestinian families to stop the takeover of their neighborhood in East Jerusalem by Jewish settlers has received a major fillip from the recent souring of relations between Israel and Turkey.  After the Israeli army’s assault on the Gaza Strip in January, lawyers for the families were given access to … Continue reading “Turkey’s Fallout With Israel Deals Blow to Settlers “

Despite President Barack Obama’s statement at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina Feb. 27 that he had “chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months,” a number of Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), which have been the basic U.S. Army combat unit in Iraq for six years, will remain in Iraq after … Continue reading “Despite Obama’s Vow, Combat Brigades Will Stay in Iraq”

Contrary to the views of the likely incoming right-wing government of Israel, most U.S. Jews favor peace negotiations with a Palestinian unity government that would include Hamas, according to a new poll released here Tuesday by the year-old, pro-peace Jewish lobby group, J Street. The poll of 800 self-identified Jews conducted during the first week … Continue reading “US Jews Open to Palestinian Unity Govt”