I was out of the country only nine days, hardly a blink in time, but time enough, as it happened, for another small, airless room to be added to the American national security labyrinth. On March 22, Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Jr. signed off on new guidelines allowing …
Continue reading “Data Mining You”
Reports are surfacing that an adviser to Parliament Speaker Osama Nujaifi has been arrested on terrorism charges. At least eight Iraqis were killed and three more were wounded in various attacks.
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning — the man accused of blowing a whistle so loud it’s still reverberating through the world two years after the fact — will return before a judge for his court-martial proceedings this month. Manning, 24, faces 22 charges, including “aiding the enemy” and violating the 1917 Espionage Act, for allegedly transferring …
Continue reading “The Passion of Bradley Manning“
The battle for Senate has been joined in Massachusetts between Scott Brown, a hawk, and Elizabeth Warren, another hawk. Warren began as the darling of the “progressives” here, but as her stance on Iran, the ongoing wars, and the plight of the Palestinians becomes known, the bloom is off the rose. On the first day …
Continue reading “Hawk Fights Hawk for Mass. Senate Seat”
TEL AVIV — A striking feature of the Israeli political landscape in recent months has been the absence of a serious debate among national security figures on the issue of the threat of war with Iran. It is well-known that many prominent former military and intelligence officials believe an attack on Iran would be disastrous …
Continue reading “Israeli Experts Mum on Iran Attack to Support Bibi’s Bluff”
At least 12 Iraqis were killed and two more were wounded in new attacks, as Vice President Hashemi’s trip to Qatar further enraged Baghdad.
Marwan Barghouti has spoken up. After a long silence, he has sent a message from prison. In Israeli ears, this message does not sound pleasant. But for Palestinians, and for Arabs in general, it makes sense. His message may well become the new program of the Palestinian liberation movement. I first met Marwan in the …
Continue reading “A Palestinian Mandela”
The mysterious Orient, hidden behind a façade of inscrutability, an enigma wrapped in a veil of secrecy: that’s how the internal politics of China are “reported” in the West – and that’s just the way the present Chinese leadership likes it. They quite naturally don’t want their dirty linen exposed to public view, and the …
Continue reading “The Truth About Bo Xilai”
Tensions between the Kurdish Regional Government and Baghdad were heightened today after the Kurds halted foreign oil exports and allowed the fugitive vice president to leave the country. At least five Iraqis were killed and four more were wounded in unrelated violence.
