For what seems like months we have been inundated with reports of “massacres” carried out by Syrian government troops against defenseless villagers. The sourcing for these reports is always Syrian “activists,” sometimes named but often not, and the details are always quite horrific: There was the “massacre” at Houla, touted by the BBC in a …
Continue reading “Tall Tales in Tremseh”
It was Jan. 15, 2004, and TomDispatch had only been in existence for a year when Chalmers Johnson, author of the prophetic book Blowback (published in 2000 and a bestseller after the 9/11 attacks), did a piece for this site titled “America’s Empire of Bases.” He wrote then: “Due to government secrecy, our citizens are …
Continue reading “US Empire of Bases Grows”
In A Peace to End All Peace, David Fromkin’s subject is the Middle East immediately before, during, and after World War I. Central to Fromkin’s 567-page survey is the British and French division of the Arabic-speaking provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Paris and London carved up the region, which the Turks had ruled for 400 …
Continue reading “Deconstructing A Peace to End All Peace“
Now that the talks with Iran on its nuclear program appear to be on the ropes, are we on the road to war? The Israelis threaten it almost weekly, and the Obama administration has reportedly drawn up an attack plan. But in a sense, we are already at war with Iran. Carl von Clausewitz, the …
Continue reading “Iran Sanctions: War By Other Means”
The Iraqi government issued a warning to Turkey to drop plans to trade oil with Kurdistan or face increased tensions with its neighbor. Meanwhile, at least eight Iraqis were killed and 12 more were wounded in new attacks
The Iraqi Communist Party celebrated the 54th anniversary of the July 14, 1958 declaration of the republic with a march in Baghdad. Although the march also called for improved services, the demonstrators were not met with any violence. However, attacks continued elsewhere, leaving 14 dead and 11 more wounded.
Slate columnist Fred Kaplan recently attempted to defend President Obama’s increasing reliance on drones. While he partially concedes that drones could be "morally iffy," Kaplan argues that this "kill list" of extrajudicial assassination could be "assuring": "Not only are people—trained, authorized personnel—very much in control of what the drones do; in the most sensitive cases, the ultimate decision is …
Continue reading “Drone Strikes Do Fuel Blowback in Yemen”
Uri Avnery on the death of Yitzhak Shamir
At least one Iraqis was killed and 18 more were wounded in prayer day attacks.
Justin Raimondo on playing the Sunni Card
