To recall the media hype that accompanied Ukraine’s "Orange Revolution" of 2004, which propelled Viktor Yushchenko, a former central banker and alleged liberal democrat, into power, is like remembering a fever-dream in the morning: the memory of the details are blurred, and all that really remains is the sense that something strenuous, and ultimately unreal, …
Continue reading “The Orange Revolution, Peeled”
An armed group that claims to have kidnapped an American contractor in January may be holding a second American citizen. Also, an Iraqi appeals court has reversed its own decision allowing over 500 people on an election blacklist to run in March elections. While attacks were light today, at least three Iraqis were killed and eleven more were wounded in new violence.
Updated at 5:11 p.m. EST, Feb. 6, 2010
At least eight Iraqis were killed and three more were wounded in light violence. One Egyptian man was also killed. Millions of Arbaeen pilgrims are on their way home, but no attacks on the worshippers were reported today. Meanwhile, the League of the Righteous released a video containing footage of a new hostage.
KABUL – If peace talks do ultimately begin between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban leadership, they may well follow a “road map” to a political settlement drawn up by a group of ex-Taliban officials who have been serving as intermediaries between the two sides. The four Taliban mediators have been encouraging both Karzai …
Continue reading “Peace Talks May Follow Ex-Taliban Mediators’ Plan”
Civil liberties advocates and legal authorities struck back Friday at what they describe as the “deliberate targeted killing of U.S. citizens far away from any active hostilities, as long as the executive branch determines unilaterally that they meet a secret definition of who the enemy is.” In an admission that took the intelligence community and …
Continue reading “Legal Experts Slam Assassinations of US Citizens”
The culmination of the Arbaeen pilgrimage today saw dozens more casualties among the ten million pilgrims who traveled to Karbala for the religious holiday. At least 46 Iraqis were killed and 168 more were wounded there and elsewhere. A Syrian was also killed. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reminded U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill not to exceed his authority in regards to a controversial elections blacklist.
Charles Pena on false fiscal conservatism
Statement before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing: “Yemen on the Brink: Implications for U.S. Policy” February 3, 2010 Mr. Chairman, I am extremely concerned over current US policy toward Yemen, which I believe will backfire and leave the United States less safe and much poorer. Increasing US involvement in Yemen may be sold as …
Continue reading “Stay Out of Yemen!”
RAMALLAH — Gazans hoping for a modicum of justice following Israel’s indiscriminate military assault on the coastal territory during December 2008 and January 2009 — which left 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead — could be waiting in vain. The Israeli government has taken the offensive in the propaganda battle and attacked United Nations-appointed Justice Richard …
Continue reading “Gazans Denied Justice as Rights Take a Beating”
Over the past four decades Israel has defrauded Palestinians working inside Israel of more than $2 billion by deducting from their salaries contributions for welfare benefits to which they were never entitled, Israeli economists have revealed. A new report, “State Robbery”, to be published later this month, says the “theft” continued even after the Palestinian …
Continue reading “Report: Israel Stole $2B from Palestinian Workers” 
