The timing of the publication of a major New York Times story on the vast untapped mineral wealth that lies beneath Afghanistan's soil is raising major questions about the intent of the Pentagon, which released the information.Given the increasingly negative news that...
Democratic Party Defends Israeli Attack
Tens of thousands of Israelis protested in the streets of Tel Aviv last weekend against their right-wing government's attack on an unarmed humanitarian aid flotilla sailing in international waters. International condemnation of the raids continued in foreign capitals....
King David and His Howling Commandos
As Renaissance political scientist Niccolo Machiavelli noted, the fall of Rome came about when its military elite, known as the Praetorian Guard, gained control over the emperor and the Senate. Had irony survived the Bush Jr. administration, it would relish that...
Monday: 7 Iraqis Killed, 38 Wounded
Empire’s Deal
Remembering a Trampled Armistice When NATO launched Operation Allied Force in March 1999, everyone involved in the operation thought it would be a short, victorious war. How could a tiny country, devoid of allies, besieged from without and divided from within,...
Israel Plans Second Dig in Ancient Muslim Graveyard
Israeli authorities are pressing ahead with plans to build a courthouse complex on a large historic Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem that is already at the center of protests over plans to locate a “Museum of Tolerance” there. The proposed courthouse is expected to...
Pax Ottomanica?
You know that something strange is happening when the usual crew of neocon critics takes out after Turkey – yes, Turkey! – a country that, as Inter Press Service's Jim Lobe points out, they long cultivated and supported as a key ally and supposedly model democracy in...
Who Is Afraid of a Real Inquiry?
If a real commission of inquiry had been set up (instead of the pathetic excuse for a commission), here are some of the questions it should have addressed: What is the real aim of the Gaza Strip blockade?If the aim is to prevent the flow of arms into the Strip, why...
Sunday: 36 Iraqis Killed, 64 Wounded
McChrystal Faces ‘Iraq 2006 Moment’ in Afghanistan
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal confronts the specter of a collapse of U.S. political support for the war in Afghanistan in coming months comparable to the one that occurred in the Iraq War in late 2006. On Thursday, McChrystal's message that his strategy will weaken the...