GAZA CITY — As Israel and Hamas separately celebrate the ceasefire and their “victory” over the other following Israel’s blistering eight-day military assault on the Gaza strip, civilians continue to pay the price. According to the Palestine Center for Human Rights (PCHR), more than 160 Palestinians lost their lives by Nov. 21, the last day …
Continue reading “Children Face the Fallout of Gaza War”
I wanted to like Oliver Stone’s new documentary, The Untold History of the United States, really I did. After all, here is the maker of films positing a conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy and exposing the criminal history of the Vietnam war promising to unveil the suppressed truth about America’s role in the world. …
Continue reading “Oliver Stone’s Untold History:
A Twice-Told Tale”
Relatively peaceful Ashoura observances over the weekend were followed a spate of violence today. Shi’ite mosques were hit in Baghdad, while a Kurdish political office was targeted in Kirkuk. When significant attacks occur, many smaller attacks also get reported. Today was no different. Overall, at least 42 people were killed and 191 more were wounded.
Never underestimate the power of a fantabulous writing team. That’s just what I did when I suggested, however gently, that the new shows Person of Interest (CBS) and Homeland (Showtime) might tank for all of their overdone, paranoid schlock. This is what I wrote last year around this time: Let’s hope the reviewers are wrong …
Continue reading “Homeland’s Crazy, Sexy, Muslim-Baiting Appeal”
The Nov. 22 ceasefire between Israeli and Hamas forces is a huge relief for the civilian population on both sides — the primary victims of the conflict. But the Obama administration’s unconscionable decision the previous week to block a ceasefire effort by the U.N. Security Council not only resulted in additional civilian deaths but also …
Continue reading “Abetting Murder in Gaza”
As of late Friday the ceasefire in Gaza seems to be holding, if tentatively. While we should be pleased that this round of fighting appears temporarily on hold, we must realize that without changes in U.S. foreign policy it is only a matter of time before the killing begins again. It feels like 2009 all …
Continue reading “How to End the Gaza Violence”
A spokesman for Iraq’s military said that the central government and Kurdish officials have reached an agreement to ratchet down tensions and try to drawdown troops in the disputed areas. Kurdistan premier Nechirvan Barzani told reporters that a delegation would travel to Baghdad for further talks tomorrow. Reporters Without Borders condemned the previously unreported death …
Continue reading “Newspaper Editor and Sahwa Leader Killed in Iraq”
A drone war that takes out old ladies in the name of “fighting terrorism” — a “regime change” campaign that plays with the fate of millions — a President supposedly committed to “transparency” who has topped the unprecedented secrecy and authoritarianism of his predecessor — a foreign policy that subsidizes and blindly supports a racist …
Continue reading “Obama as Wilson:
Playing the Historical Analogy Game”
On returning from his first trip to the Gaza Strip, Noam Chomsky told Democracy Now‘s Amy Goodman, “It’s kind of amazing and inspiring to see people somehow managing to survive as caged animals subject to constant, random, sadistic punishment only to humiliate them, no pretext. Israel and the United States keep them alive basically. They …
Continue reading “Is Gaza Outside Israel?”
The mantra of this round was “once and for all.” “We must put an end to this (the rockets, Hamas, the Palestinians, the Arabs?) once and for all!” — this cry from the heart was heard dozens of times daily on TV from the harassed inhabitants of Israel’s battered towns and villages in the South. …
Continue reading “Once and for All” 
