Timing of Afghan Mineral Story Wealth Evokes Skepticism

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...

read more

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....

read more

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...

read more

Monday: 7 Iraqis Killed, 38 Wounded

Updated at 8:06 p.m. EDT, June 14, 2010 The new Iraqi parliament met today just long enough to swear in its new members as at least seven Iraqis were killed and 38 more were wounded in attacks around the country. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department wants its own “mini-army” to provide security for its diplomatic staff after the U.S. military withdraws. The U.S. military announced it is removing all hazardous waste it produced during the occupation.
read more

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,...

read more

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...

read more

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...

read more

Sunday: 36 Iraqis Killed, 64 Wounded

Updated at 7:50 p.m, EDT, June 13, 2010 At least 36 Iraqis were killed and 64 more were wounded in new violence. The lion’s share of the casualties came from a coordinated attack against a bank in Baghdad, just a day before the new parliament is to meet. Meanwhile, a British security contractor is appealing a determination that he is mentally able to stand trial in Iraq in the fatal shooting of two colleagues in Baghdad last summer.
read more