Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address U.S. legislators today. He will, no doubt, tell members of Congress that he supports a two-state solution, but his support will be predicated on four negative principles: no to Israel’s full withdrawal to the 1967 borders; no to the division of Jerusalem; no to the right of return for …
Continue reading “Netanyahu and the One-State Solution”
Kirkuk was again the most active province for violence today, but Baghdad saw several attacks as well. There was bloodshed in Anbar and Diyala provinces too, bringing today’s casualties to at least 12 dead and 44 wounded.
The unilateral U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden created a spike in mutual recriminations between U.S. and Pakistani politicians, but their fundamental conflict of interest over Afghanistan was already driving the two countries toward serious confrontation. The pivotal event in relations between the Barack Obama administration and Pakistan was the decision by Obama to …
Continue reading “Obama Troop Surge Decision Ignored Pak-Taliban Ties”
When the President of the United States reiterated longstanding American policy in the Middle East – that the borders of Israel and a Palestinian state must be based on the 1967 borders, give or take a few land swaps here and there – was he really “not surprised,” as he claimed in his speech to …
Continue reading “The Lobby Takes the Offensive”
A series of bomb attacks in and around Baghdad unnerved Iraqis just as the British mission in Iraq came to a close Sunday. Many of the bombs targeted police and other security forces. Some of them exploded simultaneously even though they were miles apart. At least 29 Iraqis were killed and 108 more were wounded in those and other attacks. Also, two U.S. soldiers were killed and three more were wounded when a bomb exploded near them in Baghdad. A U.S. convoy in Wassit province was targeted too, but no casualties were reported.
Violence appeared to target mostly Ninewa province, or, at least, the most
reports came from there. At least nine Iraqis were killed and nine more were
wounded in those and other attacks.
Given that President Obama daily authorizes the firing of hellfire missiles and the dropping of cluster bombs in places such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, it was awful odd seeing him wax eloquent this week about the "moral force of non-violence" in places like Egypt and Tunisia. But there he was, the commander-in-chief of the …
Continue reading “Obama Should Follow His Own Advice on the ‘Moral Force’ of Non-Violence”
The hypocrisy is unspeakable. This morning (13th May), 80 Pakistani citizens are dead. These were not terrorists, nor warlords, but harmless civilians who, not for a second, posed a threat to society. The vile attacks in the northwest Pakistan district of Chardassa were perpetrated by suicide bombers belonging to the Pakistani Taliban. They called it the …
Continue reading “How Dare They Bomb Pakistan, That’s Our Job”
As Iraqi refugees are returning home from a number of Arab countries in turmoil, at least seven of their fellow countrymen were killed during violence at home. Another 19 were wounded.
With Osama bin Laden dead, and the al-Qaeda organization in disarray, the new enemy of the moment is Pakistan – a target Barack Obama had in his sights even before taking office. A recent piece in the New Yorker – that bellwether of elite Obama-bot opinion – goes after Pakistan with the by-now-familiar innuendos: they’re …
Continue reading “The Wrath of Shiva” 
