Imagine yourself in a typical Twilight Zone episode. You’ve been tossing and turning in delirium for some time and now, to your astonishment, you wake up to find yourself in an almost unrecognizable world. Your country, the former “sole superpower” on planet Earth, is in domestic gridlock, a financial hole, and can’t win a war …
Continue reading “War Fever Subsides in Washington”
No one needs to tell the public that politicians are slick — and the ones who get elected are the oiliest. President Obama, in a recent speech announcing the phased withdraw of 33,000 U.S. surge forces from Afghanistan by September 2012, told the country that the United States had largely achieved its goals in Afghanistan …
Continue reading “Like Nixon, Obama Will Waste Lives to Get Reelected”
JERUSALEM — To many people, Rabbi Arik Ascherman would appear to be a contradiction in terms. He is an ardent Zionist and religious Jew who believes that God made a covenant with the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. But the core of Ascherman’s Zionist ideology revolves around fighting for human rights, especially those …
Continue reading “A Zionist Fights for Palestinian Rights”
At least seven Iraqis were killed and seven more were wounded in light violence. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Shi’ite pilgrims are in Baghdad to mark anniversary of the eight-century death of Imam Musa al-Kadhim. As they leave, attacks reports from Baghdad should resume.
ATHENS — Activists are engaged in a harsh confrontation with Israeli authorities days before the international “Freedom Flotilla II — Stay Human” sets sail toward the Gaza strip in an attempt to break the naval blockade Israel has imposed since 2007. The flotilla will include 10 ships that have already reached Athens. Two are cargo …
Continue reading “Confrontation Begins Before Gaza Flotilla Sets Sail”
Up until now, the neoconservatives within the national security establishment had been almost demure and decorous, content like cats to paw at the growing number of “isolationists” among the GOP coming out against the U.S. intervention in Libya and for a more rapid withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan. But when President Obama announced his plan …
Continue reading “Neocons Return to War Debate With a Vengeance”
CAIRO — Based on several recent statements by Egyptian and Iranian officials, Cairo and Tehran appear closer than ever to restoring diplomatic ties following a 31-year hiatus. “The Egyptian foreign minister and the Islamic Republic of Iran have announced their readiness to expand diplomatic relations between the two countries,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi …
Continue reading “Post-Mubarak Egypt Inches Toward Iran”
Last week, newly arrived in Athens as part of the U.S. Boat to Gaza project, our team of activists gathered for nonviolence training. We are here to sail to Gaza, in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, in our ship, The Audacity of Hope. Our team and nine other ships’ crews from countries around the …
Continue reading “Staying Human: Preparing to Sail to Gaza”
At least six Iraqis were killed and 27 were wounded in the latest violence, which also left one U.S. soldier dead. Because of a Shi’ite religious observance that climaxes tomorrow, reports are likely undercounting casualties to a greater extent than normal.
The Palestinians are planning something thoroughly obnoxious: they intend to apply to the UN for statehood. Why obnoxious? Any Israeli spokesman (not to mention spokeswoman) will tell you readily: because it is a “unilateral” move. How dare they proclaim a state unilaterally? How dare they do so without the consent of the other party to …
Continue reading “Sacred Mantras” 
