By the end of 2011, the United States had elite special operations forces in around 120 of the 192 countries recognized by the United Nations, with U.S. military bases in more than half of the world’s nation-states. Yet despite this global empire — some would say because of it — the United States is a …
Continue reading “A Global Empire, Yet a United States of Fear“
As a government spokesman spoke against foreign contractors, at least two Iraqis were killed and 19 more were wounded in new attacks. Also, fourteen people found guilty on terrorism charges were executed despite recent international condemnation of Iraq’s justice system and it use of the death penalty.
Before President Barack Obama’s interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer, aired before the Super Bowl on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu probably hoped that, if Obama discussed Iran, he would give him the strong backing that Israeli leaders crave, freeing them to lash out at Iran — militarily, if they so choose. Few could have …
Continue reading “Obama’s Super-Bowl Fumble on Iran”
The stage is set, the actors are in their places, and the orchestra strikes up the prelude: all that remains is for the curtain to rise on Act One of “World War III in the Middle East.” The stage set: a street somewhere in Syria, where mysterious armed gangs [.pdf] roam freely, attacking civilians, kidnapping …
Continue reading “Our Bloodstained Hands”
Since World War II, the impulse of the American foreign policy elite has been to intervene in trouble spots abroad and apparently let God sort out the consequences. The ill effects of such interventions are usually plain to see — if nothing else, after the episodes are over — but the arrogance of the elite …
Continue reading “US Oblivious to Unintended Consequences of Foreign Policy”
MUNICH — The appeals to Israel by numerous European diplomats attending the Munich security conference last weekend have led to growing concern that Israeli plans to attack Iran are imminent. The very number of warnings to Israel, and the emphasis with which diplomats have expressed concern, suggests that Israeli plans to attack Iran are real …
Continue reading “Europe Fears a Summer Attack on Iran”
An Iraqiya politician who led the way for a semi-autonomy bid that enraged Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and triggered a national political crisis may have resigned according to an anonymous source in the political party. Meanwhile, at least two Iraqis were killed and 18 more were wounded in random violence.
JERUSALEM – Will Israel attack Iran’s nuclear facilities this spring? That is a question dominating the international agenda. Meanwhile, the grand project of a nuclear weapon–free Middle East is relegated to the utopian “day after” a solution is found to the Islamic republic’s atomic program. Strangely enough, Israeli public opinion has no clear opinion on …
Continue reading “Israel and Iran Agree on Nuclear Ambiguity”
WASHINGTON — Some two million men and women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since the wars began in 2001. Little did these individuals know that surviving the improvised explosive devices and insurgent gunfire wouldn’t necessarily guarantee their health or survival once they got home. We of course have heard about the high suicide rate …
Continue reading “Slowly, Toxic Vets Get Recognition”
Appearing alongside CIA Director David Petraeus before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last week, James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said of Iran: “We don’t believe they’ve actually made the decision to go ahead with a nuclear weapon.” Before the hearing, as James Fallows of The Atlantic reports, Clapper released his “Worldwide Threat …
Continue reading “Who Wants War With Iran?” 
