There are mounting signs that the right-wing Israeli government may think the timing is right for an attack on Iran, with growing alarms inside Israel about alleged Iranian progress on building a nuclear bomb — and with President Barack Obama fearing loss of key Jewish political support in 2012 if he doesn’t go along. On …
Continue reading “Israel’s Window to Bomb Iran”
Foreign Service officer Peter Van Buren had an interesting week. Aside from getting a book published, he became a news-cycle celebrity of sorts in Washington — not for his book, per se, but for the fact that he might get fired for it. Reporters and bloggers quickly picked up on a column he wrote last …
Continue reading “Who’s Afraid of Peter Van Buren’s Book?”
The recent extrajudicial killing of two American citizens, most notably radical Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, has spurred a curious debate over whether the action, personally ordered by President Barack Obama, was right or wrong — curious for its conspicuous focus not on whether assassinations are right or wrong, but on whether they are “legal” or …
Continue reading “When It Comes to State-Sanctioned Murder, Morality Matters Most”
JERUSALEM — Days after his halfhearted conciliatory U.N. appearance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already approved the construction of 1,100 flats in occupied East Jerusalem. Yet on Sunday, he threw his support behind the new Mideast Quartet’s peace plan with the Palestinians. “Israel is welcoming the Quartet’s call for direct negotiations without preconditions between …
Continue reading “Israel Builds Settlements and Wants Talks”
In the most outrageous attack of the day, gunmen in police uniforms entered a government complex in Anbar province where they killed almost a dozen hostages before being killed themselves. Including that attack, at least 31 Iraqis were killed and 37 more were wounded across the country.
In summer 2010, WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of classified U.S. State Department cables, much to the outrage and chagrin of the American national security establishment and its Amen Corner. The documents included embarrassing details on internal corruption in a number of Arab regimes and helped spark a “Facebook/Twitter Revolution” in Tunisia, ending in the …
Continue reading “From Arab Spring to Fall Revolution?”
The assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki sets the kind of precedent that Americans will come to regret, but for now they cheer, like Romans hailing a death in the arena. Richard Miniter, writing in the Obamaite – and aptly named – Daily Beast, avers that not only was the killing legal, it was also “wise.” He …
Continue reading “Assassins of Liberty”
Who doesn’t like roasted chicken? Fresh, crispy with a little salt, it falls off the bone into your mouth. It’s a great thing, unless the price is $2.5 million of your tax dollars. As a Foreign Service Officer with a 20-year career in the State Department, and as part of the George W. Obama global …
Continue reading “How the American Taxpayer Got Plucked in Iraq”
At least 10 Iraqis were killed and 10 more were wounded in new violence. Most of the known attacks occurred in Diyala province or Mosul, while no incidents were reported in Baghdad.
At least 11 Iraqis were killed and 14 more were wounded in the last day. The number of reported attacks escalated in Diyala province where at least four towns saw violence. Diyala remains one of the more belligerent provinces in Iraq and is particularly prone to sectarian tensions.
